Believe Me
by Wyngana
Summary: Narnia is in peril, under Miraz's rule. Evangeline is Peter's best friend, but what happens when he drags her to Narnia and leaves her under the care of Edmund? Pairings eventually become Edmund/OC. Set in Prince Caspian.
1. The fight at the Train Station

**A.N: Hello, this is my first fanfic to be posted onto this site. I've been a member for a long time, and finally Narnia has inspired me to write. So this is set in Prince Caspian. It isn't much, but I'll work on it :). Pairings are Edmund/OC but it starts off with Peter/OC.**

**Disclaimer: As much as I wish to, I do not own The Chronicles of Narnia nor its characters, it belong's to C.S Lewis, however, my OC character, Evangeline is.**

**Most of the story is in Evangeline's POV, occasionally, it switches to the POV of the other characters she's with. I will try my best to write as to each how of them would act in that particular situation. And if you have any ideas, I would be more than happy to hear them (:**

**

* * *

  
**

**Chapter 1 – The fight at the train station**

"Believe me, Evangeline… It's there… I can feel it, Aslan's magic is calling to me…" Evangeline shook her head.

"You can say anything you want, Pete. I really don't believe you…" She replied back to Peter. They were standing side by side on the train station, waiting for it to pick them up for school.

"If you're having nightmares, go see a psychiatrist…" Evangeline placed her trunk down beside her; the weight load was getting heavier by the minute, which made her wrists sore. Circulating them, Evangeline looked at him. Peter was a head taller than her and wore his school uniform, a navy blue tie adorned his crisp shirt and his blonde hair, as usual, seemed in place.

"I don't have nightmares, Evangeline."

"If you say so…"

There seemed to be a kingly air around Peter, she had been friends with him for quite a while now since they started physical health lessons with each other two years ago. Before then, Peter treated her like he would treat his younger siblings, with care and kindness, there had been nothing wrong, and they had seemed very much related to each other. But ever since returning from their previous school holiday, Peter seemed more agitated by the hour. He liked to be the leader of everything, the one in charge. And whenever someone picked on him, or supposedly, 'damaged his pride', there would usually be a fight occurring afterwards.

As one of his close friends, of course Evangeline got pretty annoyed with him. He snapped at her more occasionally and she had found that it was a lot nicer to have a small chat to his younger brother, Edmund. Edmund used to be the black sheep of the family, the rebellious nasty little boy who loved nothing better than to pick on his younger sister, Lucy. Of course, after the holidays, Edmund had changed quite a lot too. She was surprised when he replied back to her with a norm and friendly, "Hello" after she had greeted him.

Evangeline and Ed barely knew each other even though they were about the same age. They didn't have any classes together and even if they did, she was still a little intimidated by him. She wasn't sure that he had changed completely and unsure whether under all the niceness was just another layer of evil she had encountered when giving him candy cane two Christmas Eve's ago.

Therefore, she still hung out with Peter.

He had told her stories about a land called Narnia, and about some lion that governed the lands and was the great king, he was called Aslan. Of course, she enjoyed listening to these stories, but laughed when Peter tried to persuade her that it was real.

"I'm not joking, Evangeline, it's real, I promise you, I will show you Narnia one day…" She remembered Peter saying with a quite determined voice.

"Good luck" She had replied curtly, after that he gave up on persuading her and stalked out of the room. A grim smile bore on Evangeline's face after remembering that encounter.

***

"Oof." Evangeline's breath was knocked out from the force of the push. She looked at Peter, the same thing had just happened to him. Three boys from behind them were snickering, they were the ones who had attacked them.

"How dare you bump into me? Say sorry or you'll get hurt!" A brunette haired boy by the name of Steven threatened. He was taller and bigger than Peter.

"Leave us alone," Peter growled in return.

"Not until you apologise…"

"I'm not going to apologise to bullies like you."

"Oooh, look who's a chicken…" They all taunted.

"Please," Evangeline pleaded, "Just leave us alone…"

"Not until the boy here apologises, little lady," Steven replied curtly.

Evangeline cocked an eyebrow at Peter, he looked angry. His fists and jaws were clenched, she could tell, this is when Peter would lose it and start a fight.

"No one calls Evangeline a 'little lady' or calls me a 'boy'." With a snarl, he launched himself at Steven and punched him in the nose.

"PETER!!!" Evangeline yelled, drawing attention to them. The crowd began to surge to see the fight, to them, it seemed like a spectator sport.

"Get back here, you complete nutter! PETER!" She yelled again, this time, no one heard her, everyone was too busy chanting.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight."

**Peter's POV**

With all three on one, Peter looked like he didn't have a chance to win. They pinned him on the ground and began kicking at his sides. He resisted the urge to groan, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing him weak. The England air blocked his senses, he felt restricted breathing in its atmosphere, if he had a sword, or if he was in Narnia, he would have defeated them all. But then again, he was in England, on a train platform with no weapons but his fists.

They picked him up and kneed him in the stomach, he doubled over, but stood back up and kicked one of them in their shin. Whipping himself around, he saw the disapproving face of Evangeline's. He knew she was annoyed with his unusual outbursts of anger, leading him to think that she thought of him as mad. They have known each other for a long time, and he felt that they had grown up together, after his return from Narnia, he had told her everything about it. Of course, she did not believe a word he had said and her face contorted as he tried several times to persuade her to believe that it was real. Peter had given up after seeing her shake her head and resume her reading. He had sworn to take her to Narnia if he ever had the chance to visit it again. Evangeline seemed more distant lately, it probably reflected Peter's attitude towards her, even though he trusted her with his deepest secrets, and probably, even his life... Her face widened into a worried glance as they pushed his head down, but after that, he saw no more of her as he was getting bashed by them.

He felt that there was something utterly wrong in the picture, something was missing. Of course, Susan was at the newspaper stand, reading, as usual. Lucy was probably with her other friends, Evangeline was watching the fight and Edmund... Where was Edmund?

**Evangeline's POV**

Evangeline cringed as she saw a trickle of blood from Peter's cheek, she wanted to turn away, or call for Edmund's help. But he was no where to be seen. She saw Susan and Lucy push themselves into the crowd, witnessing, like her, their brother's fight. She knew that it wasn't the first they had ever witnessed and whenever she asked what was wrong, they all replied the same thing, "It's Narnia, he wants to go back..." Narnia? She had thought, was this all a conspiracy?

_C'mon, where's Peter's saviour? _Evangeline thought. Suddenly, out of nowhere instead of the chant, she heard the name, "EDMUND!" being called out, she whipped her black locks to look for him, _Oh no... Don't tell me Edmund's joined the fight too..._ Sure enough, she soon spotted Edmund with his usual beanie cap, jumping on one of the boys from behind. With his weight added, his opponents knees buckled.

She suddenly heard a whistle and with that again, the crowd surged in all different directions, pretending that nothing had happened. She stood glued to the spot, not wanting to move anywhere until she could see Peter and Edmund again. The guards pulled Steven and Peter apart. Peter bore an evil grimace, the guard shook him, "Act your age!" He growled, letting Peter go.

With a tired look Peter stumbled to the bench where he sat down, joined by Susan and Lucy. Following Edmund to the bench, she asked both of them, "Are you alright? Are any of your injuries serious?" They both shook their heads. Edmund took a seat next to Peter, "Your welcome," He muttered. The Pevensie's little arguement played out before her, she did not want to interrupt, seeing as it was not fit for her to do so.

* * *

**A.N: OK, this is the first chapter done :) The next one will be posted up ASAP, I hope you enjoyed it. :D**

**Any comments, suggestions or reviews would be welcomed :)**

**Thanks, Wyngana.**


	2. Realisation

**A.N: Sorry if this chapter seemed delayed, I'm pretty tired out from martial arts, and I've been too hooked up with reading other fanfic stories. But you can't blame me for it, others are such good writers :)**** Oh, Edmund and Evangeline don't get together or whatever until who knows what chapters. I want this story to have its pace, and not dive into the lovey dovey stuff just too quickly. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy :)**** Comments and criticism are very much welcome.**

**Disclaimer: Yesh, I do not own The Chronicles of Narnia, nor it's characters. They belong to C.S Lewis, yadda yadda ya. Oh, but Evangeline is my character :D  
**

**

* * *

  
**

**Chapter 2** – **Realisation and turning up in some other universe**

"Ow!" someone cried. Evangeline turned around only to find Lucy pointing at her seat. "Something pinched me!" There was some little argument between Peter and Edmund which she didn't catch.

Soon all of the Pevensie's stood up from their seat.

"It feels like magic!" Lu exclaimed. Evangeline was bewildered, what on earth was going on? Magic? Not this conspiracy again… She rolled her eyes, now was clearly not the time for them to play games. Not right after Peter had narrowly missed a fatal beating.

"Evangeline! Come here, you definitely do not want to miss this!" exclaimed Peter. She folded her arms and stared at the railway tracks. They were all playing games with her, trying to trick her into believing them!

"Everyone, hold hands…" She heard Susan command. That girl took control of everything.

Evangeline was beyond herself just looking at them, if they were pretending, they were all very good at acting. But she knew Peter was a terrible actor, not to mention terrible at lying. Why would they want to hold hands? The train that was coming to pick them up for school was arriving, and she was definitely sure that it wasn't going to make them fly out in different directions. Evangeline threw back a black lock from her face with annoyance.

"Evangeline! I promised you that when the chance comes, I'd take you to Narnia, please, come with us… I don't want to break my promise…" Peter pleaded. Evangeline turned around and met with Peter's puppy dog eyes. She really wanted believe them, but a part of her held her back from running to join the Pevensie's. What if they were making fun of her? What if when she came to hold Peter's hand, they would all suddenly let go and laugh at her? Embarrassing people seemed to be on Edmund's list, but she trusted the others.

Hesitating, she looked at the train which was coming down the tunnel, to her suitcase in her hand and then to the rest of the Pevensie's. She looked at Peter; he was wearing his non-refusable pleading, puppy dog eyes face. She looked at Susan who looked in the other direction, avoiding her glance. Clearly, it seemed that Susan didn't want her to join them, so she then adverted her gaze to Edmund. He was hesitant to meet her eyes but nodded all the same. And then to Lucy, who seemed pretty happy about it, "Come with us, Ange, well show you Narnia," She shouted, bubbling. Evangeline shook her head. This seemed to be all too much.

"What makes them think that they're going back to Narnia?" She mumbled to herself.

She really wanted to believe them, she really did. Even though she usually told Peter off for telling her these things, deep inside, she knew that Peter was telling the truth, that there really was a Narnia. Evangeline was just afraid to look foolish in front of them, but after all, Peter was her friend.

Evangeline gave in, she ran to Edmund who extended his hand out to her, since Peter was in the middle holding Ed's other hand and Susan's, who was holding onto Lucy. "Is this some sort of trick?" She asked. Why in the world was she asking Edmund? He was the one who lied more often in the family.

"No, Evangeline, we're serious."

By the tone of his voice, she knew that he wasn't lying. With one hand, she held Edmund's hand and with the other, her suitcase. Unlike the others, her things were too precious to part with, like her favourite novels. Evangeline was a total bookworm; therefore, her general knowledge was pretty vast for a girl at the age of 15.

Slowly, everything started to disappear before her eyes, the train tracks, the train itself, the signs… She blinked, and one by one, the bricks vanished, slowly revealing peepholes that showed a bright sunny place where light spilled through onto the dimly lit platforms. Evangeline started to believe that it was real. This was definitely no conspiracy. Altogether the whole train platform disappeared, and all that she could see left of England was the train that rode off and vanished into the air.

***

Evangeline squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she could make out sand. Yes sand, her feet confirmed it as she took a step forward. Then she heard waves crash gently against a shoreline. They were on a beach, well, what she thought was a beach.

"Where are we?" She asked, she was the first to speak out of the entire group. From the other side of the group line, Susan looked at her, her face turning into a grim line of worry, she started yelling at both Edmund and Peter.

"Oh no, you took her with us?!"

"I promised to take Evangeline to Narnia! I wasn't planning to prove that I was lying to her!" yelled Peter in response, even though he was happy, Evangeline can tell that he still had his temper from the fight.

Susan recoiled, "But this is Aslan's country! You just can't bring whoever you like with you!" She protested.

"Well maybe Aslan wanted her here!" Peter replied.

"Why would she be here with us when Aslan could've just left her at the train station?" Edmund asked, backing up Peter. Susan seemed stumped for any more arguments. Peter threw a grateful smile at Edmund.

"No one seems to have answered my question… _Where. Are. We?_" Evangeline asked once more emphasising on the question, annoyed that no one seemed to have taken notice of it. Peter smiled at Edmund and both looked at Evangeline. Edmund gave her hand a squeeze and let go, a smile played on his face. How he was going to enjoy her reaction after hearing so many complaints from Peter about Evangeline not believing him.

"We're in Narnia of course!" Lucy piped up.

"Impossible…" Evangeline replied, quite stunned about it.

"_That_, my dear Evangeline, is most possible." She heard Peter reply, smirking at her.

"I guess I really owe you an apology Peter… I'm sorry for thinking that you lied, it's just so overwhelming…"

"That's what Susan said when she first stepped into Narnia as well…"

"So this is Narnia…" She muttered, "A pretty sight compared to England's platforms…" A small smile crept to her face as she felt the others smile as well. She ran at Peter and gave him a big hug, one a lot like those she had seen Lucy give, "You kept your promise… Thanks." Peter returned the hug and grinned.

Edmund rolled his eyes and adverted his attention to he landscape. They were on a beach. And the beach had water. With realisation, he shouted, "Race you there!!!" He took off his school uniform as he ran. He abandoned his bag, beanie, scarf, shoes, socks, and his thick heavy jacket designed for England's weather onto the sand. The others did the same, screaming and shouting as they ran along the beach's shoreline.

Evangeline threw her stuff on the sand; she definitely did not want her books to get wet. Throwing her heavy school shoes and socks off, she raced after the others. Splashing Peter in the face with water, a massive water fight was declared between her and the Pevensies. _If this was Narnia,_ She thought, _this would be an adventure unlike no other…_

_

* * *

_

**A.N: :L Susan's got super weird mood swings. LOL. **

**If anyone has a good idea for Evangeline's last name, please mail me or whatever :) All suggestions will be taken into thought :D  
**

**Next chapter will be posted up ASAP**

_**Thanks, Wyngana**  
_


	3. Discovering the Ruins of Cair Paravel

**A/N: OMG, GIANT apology for my Super LATE update/chapter thing. It's longer than the others because it's 3 pages longer than the other chapters, 'cos I found that whatever I wrote didn't really satisfy my thirst for reading so I didn't think it would suffice others. Anyway, it's up because I realised that it was pretty long and stopped writing this chapt. completely. So here it is. Any reviews, feedbacks or critisicim is greatly welcomed. Oh, and Evangeline's last name is now Rosslyn.**

**Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: As much as I wish to, I do not own the characters or the magical world of Narnia.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Discovering the Ruins of Cair Paravel**

Evangeline and the others were all soaked and dripping from top to toe when Peter started to call Edmund's name. He had stopped splashing water at Evangeline who was thankful, as she was getting annoyed with having to constantly wipe off the salty water from getting into her eyes.

"ED?..." They shouted.

"EeeeddD," they repeated again, that seemed to catch his attention.

"What is it, Edmund?" Peter asked.

"I don't know… Where do you think we are?" He replied.

"Well, where do you think?" Peter asked again.

Evangeline was shocked, "Didn't you people just establish that this was Narnia ten minutes ago?" She asked, _Seriously, how dumb are boys?_

There was a pause from Edmund.

"Well… I don't remember any ruins in Narnia…"

They all looked up at the large cliff that stood before them. Surely he was right. What was left of a building, or a castle, Evangeline wasn't sure, was just loose stones, and debris.

"Was this place of any significance to you?" She asked, pointing upwards at the cliff while assessing each of their reactions.

They all nodded, but didn't tell her of the buildings name, or what it actually was before it came crumbling down.

"It seems quite familiar…" Susan said.

One by one, they left the beach, silent and unsure of what was happening. Evangeline didn't feel like leaving the beach just yet, she was enjoying herself immensely, even though the country she was on wasn't England, and the world she was walking on wasn't Earth. It felt funny and gave her goose bumps to think she was on another world. It didn't really feel like it though.

There was something quite unnatural about how the Pevensie's behaved in Narnia. She remembered when first meeting them, they had very interesting and different but basic characteristics.

Peter was the eldest and the one who was constantly taking care of his siblings, even though he was caring and kind, he was sometimes bossy, as his leadership role made him to be like that. Evangeline didn't mind this, since she had no other siblings of her own, Peter was her brotherly figure and she loved him as much as he loved her.

Susan Pevensie, the jewel of the family, she was smart and people thought her of as quiet, but she was a high school flirt. She was used to having the most attention, especially around boys. Evangeline disliked this trait, as she found that whenever she tried to make conversation with Susan, she was always interrupted by a guy who asked silly questions which Evangeline found, not worth her time replying. However Susan just smiled sweetly and the logical person that she was, tried her best to answer everything. Evangeline had given up talking to Susan, since it was almost a waste of time waiting for her reply. Susan had taken that Evangeline did not like her, but really Evangeline did. So that was the reason why Susan ignored Evangeline most of the time.

Now to Edmund, he was the black sheep of the family. The joker, but sometimes he went too far. In his younger years, he sometimes became nasty and rude. Evangeline clearly did not trust Edmund as she remembered the incident two Christmas's ago where Edmund had gotten as far as burning Lucy's new bear. Even though she had seen big changes in him, but reasoned with herself, she felt like opening up to him once more, but made sure that it wasn't likely that she was going to get hurt, mentally by his taunts or physically if they get into some sort of fight. If Ed had gotten this far into their adventure without having a fight with his siblings, she was sure, he had really changed.

Last of all was Lucy. Lu was the sweetest girl Evangeline had ever met. She rarely got into fights or arguments between her siblings, and was thought of as, the peace keeper. No one could deny her innocence, and as the youngest in her family, she was spoilt. But it was a good thing. Lucy did not desire any attention, and yet, she got plenty to herself. Whatever she had to say, there was always a person to listen to her, no matter what. Clearly she was loved and her opinion was always taken into account. To Evangeline, Lucy's role was like a younger sister to her.

Now, as it seemed, they all had this royal air around them. They helped each other, and were encouraging. Evangeline smiled to herself. This was what it was like to have siblings, the companionship a single child didn't have.

Evangeline picked up her things and stuffed them into her suitcase. Following the others suite.

They walked along the beach, looking for a pathway that would lead them up to the rubble. Evangeline trudged along at the back while the others stood in front, who were trying to figure out where they were and how long they have left. Usually, Peter would talk to her about this, she knew that they had left for only one year, and Peter had described the Golden Age to her. About his castle, Cair Paravel, and what he did during his reign. Looking around, it seemed like they have left Narnia for about half a millennia.

Lucy and Peter walked in front, while Susan and Edmund pointed at the sky, figuring out where the sun rose and were trying to determine North and South. Evangeline looked around, they were nearing a group of trees, they seemed deciduous and it was strange to her as they grew on sand. Stooping down, she dusted the sand away and found dirt underneath. "Strange… The sand acts like topsoil…" Evangeline muttered to herself, "Which must mean that the beach is almost ending..." Standing back up, she heaved her suitcase forward. It seemed to get heavier by the minute.

"Hey! I think we're going the wrong way…" Evangeline called to the Pevensie's. They all turned around and looked at her quizzically.

"And how do you know that?" Peter asked.

"Well, the beach is almost ending, and if we go into the forest, we get further away from the Ruins, we need to go up, not across…"

"You've never been to Narnia, thank you very much… Leave the trail to the experts…" He replied frustrated.

Evangeline was getting patronised with Peter, he was getting so bossy, there was something she could do to prove him wrong.

"It seems like you haven't been here in half a millennia, in the long term, rock erodes and marks out new pathways. Since you've clearly been here before, and can't mark your way as your eyes are used to the old Narnian landscape, why don't you give new eyes that have never seen Narnia to try to find a way up?" Evangeline asked sneering inwardly, there was no way Peter could reply to this one, even if he did, he was cut off by Lucy.

"Seems like a good idea! What can you see?" Lucy asked.

"Sand, water, trees and rocks, Lu…" Edmund interrupted sarcastically. Evangeline smiled at him, grateful to be relieved of the tension, she felt better. Maybe he felt the tension too.

"No Edmund, well, it looks like there's some sort of rock pathway over there…" Evangeline pointed to the wall of the cliff. "See the thing jutting out from the rock? I think that's our way up…"

"Well spotted Evangeline," Susan complimented, Evangeline smiled to herself and looked down at her feet, she was proud of her good eyesight, but wanted to remain humble.

"C'mon then! What are we waiting for?!" Lucy cried. She dragged Peter by the arm, who trudged stubbornly along after her. Susan laughed and walked with them, while Edmund remained behind, waiting for Evangeline to start making her way.

"Hullo…" Edmund said awkwardly.

"Hi..." Evangeline replied striding after them.

"You have quite exceptional eyesight. Thanks for speaking up… Peter would've made us walk all day if it were in his decision to look for a place that would lead up to the Ruins."

"Thanks."

"Welcome… Do you need help with that? It looks pretty heavy…" Edmund asked politely, Evangeline could tell that he was trying to strike up a conversation and nodded, passing him the suitcase.

"This is heavy! What in the name of Aslan is in here?"

Evangeline was surprised, this Aslan she has heard of many times… She didn't know what he was like, was he another person like her? Or was he something more… divine? Whenever the Pevensie's said his name, warmth just flowed through her. It sounded so mysterious but not in an evil way.

Evangeline grinned, "See for yourself…" Edmund opened the suitcase and marvelled at the books in awe.

"I can't believe it! You brought a whole library with you!"

"Well, what would I do when I get bored or when it's raining outside? Read of course! I can't think of anything else besides writing or drawing…"

"I like to play chess on wet weathers."

"I've never really taken an actual interest in chess… You should teach me sometime."

"And laugh at you when I watch you lose," Edmund chuckled. Evangeline laughed and hit him on the arm.

"Ow! Ok, sorry, sorry… Of course I'll teach you…"

"That's what I wanted to hear." Evangeline replied with a smile.

They reached the cliff face and looked to the side, the rest of the Pevensie's were already walking up, and as Evangeline had said, there was a pathway made out of rock jutting out from the walls.

"I'm surprised that I was right," Evangeline murmured.

"You didn't trust your eyesight?" Edmund asked.

"I just saw it, so I thought something about the air was playing with my vision." Evangeline was surprised that so far Edmund had not complained one bit about the suitcases weight. This was definitely who she didn't think he was. The whiney child seemed to have disappeared…

"There's a magical feel in the air, it seems like I feel freer… And stronger than I was before…" Edmund said, voicing his thoughts. Evangeline looked at him quizzically, "You have to be to Narnia twice to understand what I'm talking about…" He continued. Evangeline smiled and nodded.

"What was it like when you first stepped into Narnia? Were you at a beach?" She asked.

Edmund took some time answering her question. They had walked halfway up the pathway. "I felt insecure… Like someone was playing with my mind. I didn't know who to trust and I was unsure of everything. When I walked into Narnia, everything was blanketed in a thick layer of snow… It was cold and icy… Like the land was under a spell of a never ending winter..."

"But it was never ending… For at least one hundred years, wasn't it? … And it was under a spell… Wasn't it the White Witch's doing?" Evangeline asked.

"Since when did you know about all of this?" Edmund asked.

"Peter told me about it…"

"Why did you ask then?" Edmund asked, getting defensive.

"I wanted to know how you felt when you first stepped into Narnia… Because, right now… My feelings are mixed up… I'm elated, and yet, I'm scared out of my wits…"

"Ohh…" He nodded slowly in understanding, his expression softened. "But you got us… We've been to Narnia before… When Pete and the rest first stepped into Narnia, we were lost. And all that we wanted to do was to go home…"

Evangeline nodded, "I half want to go home, and yet I want to stay here. It's so pretty compared to England," she said. They had reached the top and were lagging behind the rest of the Pevensie's who were walking about aimlessly in amazement of the castle ruins.

"Do you think this is Cair Paravel?" Lucy asked when Evangeline and Edmund reached her.

"I don't know, Lu… It's pretty hard to think when you're hungry…" Edmund complained. Peter and Susan sauntered over to them.

"What was that, Ed?" Peter asked.

"I said I'm hungry…"

Evangeline laughed to herself as she spotted an apple tree nearby. She walked over to it and looked for handholds on the branches. Pulling herself up, she began making her way up to where the apples hung.

"Well, we don't have any food..." Susan replied, "We left our bags with our lunches in it at the train station…"

There was some muttering coming from Edmund.

"Hey, where did Evangeline go?" Lucy asked. Everyone began looking around for Evangeline. It seemed that Peter was the first to spot her on top of the tree. He stood there and smiled up at her as he saw her through the branches. Evangeline steadied herself with one hand holding the tree branch, while with the other, she reached out and picked the nearest and reddest looking apple.

"Catch!" She shouted, throwing one at Peter, with a grin he caught it, and she did the same to Lucy and Susan. Assuming that Edmund had already seen where she was, she threw one at him, who was unfortunate enough to turn his back to the tree, it seemed like he was still looking for her. The apple collided with his head.

"Ow! Peter! What was that for?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"What? That wasn't me, don't accuse me of such atrocity, Edmund, it was Evangeline!"

"Sorry!" Evangeline laughed from the tree, she waved at Edmund who turned to her direction.

His eyes darkened but a smile played on his lips. "You!"

"Oh be quiet," She retorted, "You were the one complaining about how hungry you were."

Edmund shrugged and picked up the fallen apple. He rubbed it on his trouser and crunched on it. Evangeline picked an apple for herself. Carefully she made her way down and jumped off the tree. "Careful Evangeline!" Susan cried in time. Evangeline laughed when she landed gracefully on the balls of her feet.

"It's ok Susan, see? I'm fine," Evangeline reasoned. Susan nodded after seeing that she was unharmed and began eating her apple.

"We should continuu exsporing 'is pwace," Lucy suggested through a rather large apple piece in her mouth. Peter and Susan nodded in agreement and all three of them walked off in the castle's direction. Edmund was still rubbing his head with one hand when Evangeline walked over to join him.

"Sorry about that…" Evangeline smiled apologetically.

"That's going to leave a bump," Edmund winced, "I'll be ok, but don't disappear like that again!" He scolded.

"Yes mother…" She sighed. Edmund blushed in embarrassment, in one hand, he had his bitten apple, in the other, he still carried Evangeline's suitcase. She was quite surprised that he hasn't given it back. Evangeline realised that he wasn't that little selfish brat that she had first met, he was a gentleman, much like Peter.

Evangeline began eating her apple, it tasted wild and sweet, not like the ones back in England. It had a very different texture to it. She couldn't quite describe the taste. Realising that she was lagging behind the others, she trudged onto the tall grass, deciding that she should explore this magnificent place. There were trees everywhere, and each looked so over-grown and large. Red fruit dotted each tree and she realised that this must have been some apple orchard.

Hearing Edmund calling out about some chest piece, she ran to the direction of his voice. He was holding some gold chess piece. Even though it was covered it dirt and grime, Evangeline had a feeling that it was made out of pure gold.

"Well, I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley did I?" She heard him say.

"No, I pretty much doubt you did," She spoke up. Edmund turned to her and grinned.

"Can I see that?" Edmund nodded and gave her the chess piece. Even though it was small, it was quite heavy. She turned it around in her fingers, the piece was of a centaur, it seemed so real, there were carvings on his armour, and if she looked close enough, she could see the detail of his sword.

"He's a knight on the chess set, isn't he? Not a pawn… Or the others I think…" Evangeline was puzzled with her own thought, she didn't know much about chess, like she had told Edmund before, and realised that she had made a fool out of herself for speaking aloud.

Edmund smirked, "Actually, you're quite right, he is a knight. I thought you didn't know much about chess."

Evangeline threw up her hands, "Well, you can see now that I don't."

Peter and Susan chuckled. They had put it aside and followed after Lucy who suddenly gasped, to Evangeline, it seemed frightening as half the time, she didn't know what was going on.

"It can't be…" She heard Lucy whisper.

A flash of confusion crossed Susan's face, "What is it Lu?"

Lucy didn't answer and ran off, the others following quickly after her.

Evangeline didn't seem to have any trouble, she was a born athlete and sprinted off after Lucy. It didn't take long to reach her, and suddenly she lurched to a halt.

In the middle of the trees, there was an opening. There were broken down stone columns, and a grass covered pathway of stone from the same material littered the floor. Pesky vines and moss grew along what was left of the ancient beige coloured building. In her inner mind, Evangeline tried to imagine the Four Thrones of Cair Paravel, which Peter had described to her, just sitting high and magnificent before the fourteen columns and the few steps of stairs that led to it. She could imagine it, but it didn't seem to fit in. This must have been a really beautiful place, she thought.

"What is this place?" She asked aloud, watching in bewilderment as Lucy dragged Peter by the arm across the stone floor. Shaking her head, she followed after them. Lu pushed Peter in front of a small stone monument, turned him around and did the same to Susan, Edmund seemed to catch it all and found his place on the other side of Peter.

"I imagine walls… And columns there… And a big glass roof…" Evangeline heard Lucy say.

Even though she had never been there before, Evangeline tried her best to imagine it once more, with the glass roof added. Now it had seemed to fit, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, the four great rulers of Narnia looking at their kingdom and its peoples, with their head held high and full of pride and loyalty to their subjects. Whoever thought, Evangeline mused, that the four Pevensies who mainly kept to themselves would be rulers of some other magical land? Now that Evangeline could imagine the building, she looked at it in disappointment, she wished she was there when it was still in its former glory, before it had been abandoned and broken down.

"Cair Paravel…" All four of them murmured in unison.


	4. The Treasure Room

**A.N: I'm so sorry for the lag, nothing has really come to me for the orientation while ideas for the rest of the story had come whizzing to my head. So that's why I procrastinated with Chapter 4. LOL, which kept you people waiting. So I hope you enjoy :)**

**The next chapter will be completed and uploaded by the end of next week, if I don't delay. Which with no doubt I might :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the magical world of Narnia.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – The Treasure Room**

Edmund snapped out of his reverie and looked at his surroundings. There was a particular thing he was looking for. A conclusion as to how Cair Paravel had been destroyed. He walked over to a boulder, crouched down and examined it. "Catapults…" He murmured.

"What?" Peter asked.

"This didn't just happen… Cair Paravel was attacked…" Edmund replied, examining the boulder and then at the wall which had a hole in it.

"I wonder why…" said Susan.

"Invaders?" Lucy asked, "Remember how Rabadash created a war because you didn't want to marry him? It could be the Calormen…"

Peter shrugged. "At this point, we're not sure about anything, Lu… It could be anyone…"

"We should find someone to tell us what had happened…" Susan interjected.

"If there was anyone left…" Edmund said.

"Stop being so pessimistic, there must be some Narnian's around…" Snapped Lucy, for her, seeing her castle destroyed was heartbreaking, and to think that there were no Narnian's left took it too far for her.

"I'm sorry Lucy…" Edmund replied apologetically, he felt the same as his sister. I should be more encouraging, he thought, Lucy needs as much support as she can get if she's struggling to face the facts. But the facts aren't confirmed… They're just hypotheses.

"Do you remember how we had that treasure room where we kept all of Father Christmas' presents and other things during our reign locked in?" Peter asked, the other three nodded while Evangeline said nothing, obviously, she wasn't with them at the beginning of their adventure. "Let's look for it, I don't think whoever invaded found a door leading to our treasure room."

As Susan, Lucy and Edmund walked off trying to familiarise themselves with the castle ruins, Evangeline fell into step beside Peter.

"What are we looking for?" She asked. Peter glanced at her then pointed to what was left of the castle, "It should be a stone wall, one that looks like a layer on top of another wall." Evangeline nodded and turned to walk in another direction, she figured it would be easier that way to look for a treasure room. She paused when Peter laid a hand on her shoulder, his face looked apologetic as she turned to look at him, "I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier... I don't know what's wrong with me these days. I used to be so calm…"

Evangeline held up a hand to stop him. "It's fine. You're just more stressed of the late, even though you shouldn't be, look around… You're back in Narnia. I think you just need to adjust…"

Peter nodded and smiled. His friend's voice was so calm and soothing. She seemed to know what was going on in his mind half the time. What made his edginess settle was that Evangeline seemed to be confident about everything she was doing, even though she was completely out of her world. _She probably figured that there was nothing else she could do but follow us around, there was no other way we could transport her back to earth…_ Peter thought. Over the past two years, he had found out that Evangeline was as logic as Susan, but at least she didn't live by the rules of her logic like a bible.

"PETER! EVANGELINE! SUSAN!" She heard Lucy and Edmund cry out. Without a moment's hesitation, Peter ran off to where he heard them call out with Evangeline on his heels. They reached a stone door with pesky vines growing all over it.

"This is the place you were looking for?" Evangeline asked as Susan arrived. Lucy nodded, "See the brick work? It hasn't crumbled like the rest of the castle…"

"And yet, it looks like the rest of the castle, with the annoying pesky vines growing all over it," Susan said.

"Well, you're not the one who is going to clear it," Peter retorted as took out his pocketknife and started to cut at it.

Once he was satisfied with his work, Peter placed his knife back into his pocket.

"Help me clear this," He said to no one in particular as he started to pull down the now, limp vines.

Evangeline nodded and walked up to the vine covered door. She began tugging at the vines and grunted as they came down.

She heard Susan murmur something to Lucy, who soon ran off clutching her leather bag. After that, Edmund joined them and later so did Susan.

"Where's Lu?" Peter asked, immediately concerned about his youngest sister.

"I told her to collect apples, for the journey to find the other Narnians. You'd never know when you're going to be hungry, especially with Edmund complaining about his starvation at your feet," Susan replied, grinning as she piled the vines in a pile.

Edmund paused from his work, grinning broadly as he patted his stomach, "Sorry Susan, but I'm a growing boy."

"I'm surprised that your mother only packs you one sandwich for lunch a day… There should be a whole feast in your bag," Evangeline said, grunting as she grabbed a bundle of vines and pulled it down.

Only a few more to go.

"Two sandwiches, actually, one tuna and the other peanut butter," Edmund responded in an 'as matter of fact' tone.

"Too bad we left it in England," said Peter regretfully, "I could really do with some solid food right now," he then proceeded to pull down the rest of the vines.

"Ahh, now that's done," He said stepping back, the others mimicked his action.

"Edmund, would you like to help me do the honours?" Peter asked, bowing to his brother.

Edmund bowed back, "Certainly, Pete."

Evangeline moved back and watched as the two brothers push at one side of the wall. _What's pushing a wall supposed to accomplish? _She asked herself. Before she could voice it aloud, the wall started moving. She gasped in surprise. _The wall was on wheels?_

Peter stepped back and examined the door. The wood was quite rotted, so it didn't seem to be too hard to open it from the outside.

"A very fine contraption you have there… No doubt guarding your loot from over the centuries?" Evangeline asked in awe.

"We're royalty, Evangeline, not pirates, and we don't steal, what's in the treasure room is either bought and paid for, or given to us as gifts," Peter replied, amused. He punched into the wood above the handle, reaching in to unlock it from the inside.

"You never know when we might turn over and become pirates, right Peter?" Susan laughed.

Evangeline raised an eyebrow, she never heard Susan crack a joke in school, except when she's giggling with her friends. But most of the time, Susan spent lunch alone - since Lucy hasn't begun secondary school yet, looking over to the boys school, no doubt wanting to be with her brothers. Or other handsome boys.

"Pirates?" She heard Lucy pant. No doubt she was back from her apple picking. By the way that she was holding the leather bag, Evangeline could tell that it was full. _I wonder how heavy it is…_

"Our sister here suggested that we might become pirates someday, we're going to be sailing!" Edmund exclaimed.

"Yes, and stealing from other innocent sailors. No doubt you want the treasure, Edmund," Lucy replied. Edmund grinned and nodded.

"How's the lock picking coming, Peter?" Evangeline asked. As if on cue, the door swung open and broke off its hinges.

"Just fine," she heard her friend reply. They crowded around the doorway and watched as Peter ripped his shirt to wrap around a stick. "Anyone got a match?" He asked.

Edmund rummaged through his bag, "No… But I do have my torch," He said happily, taking his silver torch out. Evangeline grinned as Peter made an exasperated expression. So much for being Mr. Survival.

"You could've told me a bit sooner!" Peter laughed abandoning the makeshift torch, "Well, lead the way King Edmund."

Peter chuckled as Edmund flicked on the torch, following him as he lighted the way down the staircase. The stairs were made of the same material as the castle – or what's left of it, outside. It felt cool under Evangeline's feet, a relief from standing outside in the Narnian sun.

Edmund was the first to reach the gate that opened to the rest of the room. But for some reason, he paused, letting Peter open it up. _Probably a tradition of some sort._ Evangeline smiled as she watched Lucy stand, taking in the scene before her eyes, only to skip in excitement as she raced down the stairs.

_It must be really nice…_

"Oh my god…" Evangeline whispered, walking through the gate as she drank in the image before her eyes. This was something to be giddy about. There were goblets and silverware lying around everywhere, some were carved and others were studded with gems. Jewellery hung off vases and pots like tinsel on a Christmas tree, necklaces, bracelets, finger rings, crowns, brooches and coronets. Jewels and pearls sparkled magnificently in the sunlight that came in from the shaft. The types and colour of the jewels were countless! Amethysts, emeralds, topazes, sapphires, diamonds, rubies, cubic zirconium and even carbuncles! Coins and books were strewn everywhere across the floor. And in separate corners loomed tall suits of armours, - protecting the precious items, that seemed to be keenly polished into a high sheen. It was strange to see that these things have not rusted, along with the weaponry that piled on top of tables and shelves.

_These royals really are pirates._

"Please tell me I'm dreaming…" Evangeline said aloud.

"You wish you were dreaming, but I don't think your imagination's vast enough to dream up this," Edmund replied, smirking as he made Evangeline jump. Was he waiting for her?

"Face it Evangeline, you're not in Earth anymore…"

"Ow!" He yelled as Evangeline drove her elbow into his stomach. She was surprised to feel his muscles tense under the pressure, Edmund was fit.

_But that gave her no reason to thinking about him any differently,_ she chided herself, _don't even think about it, Edmund is your best friend's younger brother and don't you remember about all the atrocities that he's done? _

Evangeline kept on replaying the scene of Lucy crying when Edmund had thrown her stuffed toy out of the window. All Lucy wanted to do was to cheer up Edmund for the Christmas Dinner. Evangeline had been there to help out with the decorations with Peter and Susan.

She shook her head mentally, Edmund had changed.

It was evident.

"That's twice today that you've injured me… First the head, and now my stomach…"

"Shut up, Edmund, and don't be a baby," She replied in exasperation, it seemed to only make Edmund want to tease her more.

"But I am one… Can you feed me, Evangeline?"

"There is no way that anyone is getting me to feed you, especially because you can eat a 3 course dinner all on your own, it would make my arms sore. And didn't you say that you were a king, not a baby?"

"Yes…"

"Then our argument is settled," she replied.

Evangeline tore her eyes off Edmund's face and glued it onto the Treasure Room laid out before her.

"I can't believe that you own all of this…"

"Yeah… Too bad we can't bring it back with us to England…"

"Why not?" Evangeline asked.

"I'm not exactly sure of how the portals of Narnia work… The last time we found the door way back to earth, it changed our clothes from the Narnian ones back to the ones we wore when we left earth… Everything that was on us … Our swords and Lu's potion disappeared… It's strange…" he explained.

Edmund then beckoned her to follow him, "Come, I want catch up and show you our loot…"

Evangeline nodded and eagerly followed him. She was careful not to tread on the piles of treasure but it couldn't be helped, they were strewn around everywhere. Just like the dust that dispersed under Evangeline's feet. She tried to bite back a sneeze, but was unsuccessful. She didn't just sneeze once, but three times.

"Looks like someone has allergies…" Lucy grinned, opening up a treasure chest with her initials on it.  



	5. The Twin Daggers and The Flimsy Dress

**A.N: Hehe, told you I would upload another chapter by the end of this week, why it's only Friday! :D I finished writing it the day no one was at home, my sister went to school and my mum went to work, and I stayed at home because I'm in year 9. The year 7's and 10's had to get settled into their new timetable/class first. So yeah, I hope you enjoy, even though it's a little laggy **

**Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that ****-I'm up to no good**- **I do not own Narnia nor its characters, though Evangeline is mine =D**

**Mischief managed ;)**

**

* * *

  
**

**Chapter 5 – The Twin Daggers and the Flimsy Dress**

Evangeline's mouth was shaped into an O as she read each of the initials on each treasure chest. From the left to right there was E.P, P.P, S.P, and then L.P, each had their own treasure chests!?

_They're definitely pirates… _She thought_._

"I used to be so tall…" Lucy laughed, grinning as she compared her height to a very long, faded yellow dress.

"Well… You were older then…" Susan replied.

"As supposed hundreds of years later, when you're younger," Edmund replied. Evangeline laughed out loud as he was wearing a gigantic helmet, one which was too big for his face. The Pevensies then proceeded to take out their own gifts from Father Christmas, except for Edmund, because he was with the White Witch at that time, or so Peter had told her.

Finding nothing interesting about watching others reacquainting themselves with their weapons, Evangeline took interest in a scabbard which had two long daggers in them. She picked it up and examined it. The sheath was beautifully crafted, it was leather, moulded into different patterns that spiralled and swirled, overlapping each other. Like a Celtic pattern. "That's strange…" Susan murmured. Evangeline paused from examining the weapons and looked up from her scabbard.

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"My horn, I must've left it on my horse, the day we went back…"

As if that triggered a memory Lucy suddenly choked back a sob. Alarmed by her sudden change of attitude, Susan asked what was wrong.

"Mr. Tumnus and the beavers… They're all gone…" She mourned.

Who was Mister Thomas? Tumnus, again? Evangeline wanted to ask. That's when it hit her. Tumnus was the faun who was Lucy's best friend in Narnia. They had met in the woods when Lucy first came through the wardrobe.

Evangeline gave a small smile as she remembered Peter just sitting next to her on the train, acting like some excited 10 year old, telling everything that happened in his adventure in this so called land named Narnia. Starting from the beginning in the old professor's house, where they had hid in the Wardrobe from Mrs. Macready, then to the end when they fell out of the wardrobe.

At that time Evangeline thought she was talking to a lunatic.

_I can't believe that I didn't believe him…_

"I think it's time we found out what's going on," said Peter, already taking charge. "We need to get changed and pack some spare clothes and extra weapons." Susan and Lucy immediately pulled out a dress that seemed to fit them well, while Peter and Edmund took out shirts, tunics and pants. Each waited their turn to get changed behind a black and gold screen door. And as soon as they finished they grabbed their weapons and strapped them on to their belts and bodies. During all the commotion, Evangeline just stood there watching dumbly because she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She sat down and made herself comfortable on the pile of gold, still clutching the twin daggers in her hands.

"Evangeline?"

"Yes, Peter?"

"Go get changed, Susan will pick out something for you…"

"No thanks, I'm actually quite comfortable in these clothes."

"You're going to go hiking in your school uniform?"

"Yes…" She replied indignantly.

"I don't think so, c'mon Evangeline." The girl sighed and submitted into her friends prodding. As she stood up to walk to Susan, Peter stopped her.

"What now, Pete?" She asked, exasperated. "Did you want me to rearrange your pile of gold that I just sat on?"

"No… I'll keep an eye on those for you," He said, prying the daggers out of her hands. He whistled as he examined the blades. "Good choice, these are dwarf made…"

_Like that matters…_ Evangeline thought.

"The sheath looked pretty, I just took interest in the carvings," the girl shrugged.

Peter chuckled, "See this?" He asked, showing Evangeline a unique carving which weaved into each other. She took a closer look, identifying mini shapes in between the carving. She nodded.

"That's an old Narnian symbol for luck, if you wear it, maybe it'll protect you," Peter said.

Evangeline's eyebrows creased at Peter, "And you told me you weren't superstitious…"

"I'm not!" He replied defensively, "I was just pointing it out for you… I'll give these back to you after you get changed. Now be gone with you!"

Trudging off to Susan, Evangeline was tempted to turn around and stick her tongue out at Peter, she changed her mind as it was a bad idea. Her friend already had a lot to take charge of. Edmund passed her from the screen door. He was already changed into Narnian clothes, brown pants, a blue tunic and brown boots. A bundle of school clothes were tucked under his arm. The boy smirked at her, "Be careful, Evangeline, Susan might have picked out something revealing for you to wear, there's no doubt that she'll force you into it," Edmund warned her, winking. He was satisfied with his taunt as he saw Evangeline pause and cringe, shuddering involuntarily.

She was relieved that Susan had picked out a nice looking red dress for her. As she got changed she remembered that red was one of her favourite colours, and that her mother had told her that it brought out her green eyes. _How long ago was that?_ Only this morning her mother had dropped her off at the Train Station to go to St Finbars boarding school, it felt like it was a week since that happened.

The dress fitted perfectly with its neckline only two inches from her collar bone, at least it wasn't revealing. There was nothing so exciting about the sleeves, but from the waist down, the dress parted slightly to show another layer of white underneath. All in all she adored the dress. It was red, simple yet elegant and it was comfortable. Evangeline fumbled with lace behind her back, trying her best to co-ordinate her hands to tie it into a bow. She gave up soon after and called for Susan, after Su finished with the laces she stood back, as if examining an interesting piece on display in the museum.

"You look great in that dress, someone gave it to me as a gift but I never got a chance to wear it because it didn't fit my bust well…" Susan complemented, suddenly grinning.

"I was hoping that there would be a hood attached to it… But that would just ruin the dress… Are we supposed to wear capes?...." She asked in reply, trailing on. Evangeline stopped as there was no reply coming from Susan, who was still grinning. "What?" asked Evangeline, suddenly self conscious.

"You should see this, come…" Susan said, dragging Evangeline by the hand, "No… It's too hot in Narnia at this time to wear capes. She then paused at a table, picking a rather revealing dress. Evangeline's eyes popped open, the dress itself looked awful enough, but because Evangeline imagined herself in it, she almost spewed.

"Who's dress is that?" Evangeline laughed, bewildered.

"Edmund's," Susan replied, suppressing a giggle.

"What?!"

"He picked it out from his treasure chest, then gave it to me, insisting that it was for you."

Evangeline hissed, if only she could get her hands around his neck. "How did he even have a hold on this disgusting thing in the first place?" She asked, examining the material. The dress had a really low neckline, one which almost ran down between the breasts, but it was the material that mattered. The upper part of the dress was almost a transparent light pink, with cut off sleeves, the skirt itself however came up higher than the knees, but at least there were three layers of the light material overlapping each other. Obviously, whoever wore it might as well be completely naked.

Susan shrugged, "Maybe from one of the girls who was seeking a courtship with him."

Evangeline snorted and then laughed until her sides ached, "Edmund? Courting? Ahahahaha! No way! Who would want to court him? Ahahah! He'll probably be strangled in his sleep by the girl because he's so aggravating!"

Susan regarded her with a serious expression until she stopped laughing. "Courtship is normal, for royals, you know." Evangeline nodded grinning. _But is it normal for someone like Edmund?_

"Isn't it against the law to wear something so revealing?" She asked instead.

"No, not really, since we make the laws anyway," Susan replied.

"Then if you don't like it, then why don't you forbid it?"

"The four of us has to have a vote in it, but we didn't really try to bring the topic up, Peter enjoyed it back then, when he was older."

Evangeline shuddered, "I wonder how Edmund got a hold of that dress anyway, even if he rejected her, shouldn't she leave with clothes on?"

"I don't know," Susan shrugged, "Whatever he chooses to do is his choice. It doesn't matter. Anyway with this dress, the girl might as well not wear any clothes…"

Evangeline giggled and hung onto the flimsy dress, she would use it to get back at Edmund. Susan then began to work on Evangeline's hair, tying only half up and leaving the rest down, simple again, yet elegant. "Here wear these," Susan said, placing a pair of black leather boots next to Evangeline, the girl untied her school shoes and fitted the boots on. Evangeline can't help but love these boots as well, they were comfortable and came up just under the knees.

"Done," Susan said, satisfied with her handiwork, she took Evangeline by the hand to the rest of the Pevensies, who looked at her like they've just seen her in a different light.

"Looking good," Peter said, handing her the twin daggers. She thanked him and strapped the daggers to her back.

"Edmund!" Evangeline called, "May I have a word with you?" Edmund grinned and strolled up from peering through his treasure chest.

"Yes, Evangeline?"

"What in Narnia is this?" She asked angrily, holding up the very distasteful dress.

"A dress?" Edmund asked, unsure of his own answer.

"Who did it belong to?" She asked, taking a glance at Susan who was trying very hard to suppress her laugh, her brother was guilty!

"Uhh… Some girl seeking a courtship… Her name's just on the tip of my tongue. Umm… That's right!" He said clicking his fingers, "Sheena!"

"Why do you have her dress then?" Evangeline replied, regarding him dourly.

"Well…" His voice suddenly dropped down very low, and he moved closer to her, prying the dress out of her hands. "There was this one day, where I was just in my room, being lazy. I was almost seventeen then. Anyway, this infuriating girl threw my doors open and strode into the room without knocking. She had asked me for courtship a week earlier but I haven't returned my answer, nor Peter send her home, so she took it as a yes…" Edmund sighed looking down at his feet, "She… pressured me. She pushed me to my balcony door, so I opened it to seek escape… Sheena only followed, already taking her see-through dress off. I panicked…" Edmund suddenly stopped there. But Evangeline was intrigued.

"Well, what happened next?" She asked.

"I don't know how it happened, I remember saying 'No' and then… she… Jumped on me… And somehow I pushed her off the balcony, which was four storeys high…" Edmund looked up at her eyes guiltily, swallowing down a gob of saliva. His eye twitched once, like a spasm. Evangeline took it as nothing so she reacted.

"You pushed her off a four storey balcony! Ed! You killed a girl!" She yelled.

"I didn't know what to do, so I ran down to the throne room and opened the treasury to hide the evidence in my Treasure Chest. I didn't want to be tried for murder…"

"But you should've just come out and admitted it! They would've probably let you go because it was an accident. But still, you killed her! How heartless could you be for hiding evidence!?" Evangeline shouted again.

Edmund suddenly broke into a grin and soothed his friend by holding onto her shoulders, "Evangeline, relax, I was only pulling your leg…"

Evangeline did relax, she sighed in relief, but all the while she was still angry with Edmund. So much for getting back at him, he wasn't defending his side, he was attacking! "Don't you ever joke like that again…"

"You have my word as a King, milady," He grinned bowing.

"What really happened then, Edmund?" She asked, still dying to know the truth.

"The girl, Sheena, wore that and asked me for courtship. I was disgusted, so I told her if she ever wanted a courtship, she had to lose that dress, the dryad's gave her a change of clothes, she wore the clothes and then plucked up the courage to ask for courtship again." Edmund looked at Evangeline slyly, "I rejected her, then she ran off, back to where she came from, she forgot her lovely dress and took ours instead." Edmund finished summarising.

"You're hard on your choice of women…" Evangeline mused.

"Indeed I am, I was going to give that flimsy dress to Peter for his twenty first birthday. I already gift wrapped it and all, but Susan didn't let me."

"Really?" Peter piped up, "Why would I want to wear that dress?"

"Maybe Ed thought that it might bring out your shoulders," Lucy giggled.

Susan laughed, "Or rip it. Maybe it's not meant to be for you, Peter."

"What about for your future queen?" Evangeline teased.

Peter blushed, "Ok people, that's enough. Let us go and search for Narnians who could help us, we'll come back here to get our supplies, if we find them or not."

The group agreed and walked back up the stairs, back into the desolate ruins.

***

They had already hiked around the forest for approximately two hours, Evangeline guessed. She couldn't really tell the time, she thought she could but then Lucy kept on having to remind her that she was in Narnia, not England. They had passed several tall trees, which loomed high over them, casting a giant's shadow. "Narnians! Helloooo!" The group had shouted through cupped hands, hoping that it would magnify their voices to carry to the ears to hidden listeners. There was no sound but the rustle of leaves blown by the wind. No neighing, no grunts, no woofs, no roars, not even the sound of other feet - apart from theirs, crunching on the forest floor.

Lucy suggested that they go onto the other side of the Peninsula, saying that there might be mermaids there. The others agreed, as they didn't have any better ideas and walked over the other side. Even though they were in their own country, they can't help but feel safer with their weapons in their hands. Where ever their feet took them to, they suddenly halted as they reached the side of a ford. The group stopped and listened as they heard a sort of rhythmic splashing sound.

"Shh, get down, someone's coming…" Peter whispered. They all crouched down and followed Peter as he led them through the trees and onto the beach. The sand was stretched out and was slightly hilly, but they hid in the trees.

"Who do you think it is?" Evangeline asked. Peter shrugged.

"It's not a mermaid…" Lucy started, "There are two men, and a dwarf! The dwarf is bound and gagged," Lucy cried in a whisper, "Oh my god, they're going to throw him overboard!"

"Susan! Do something!" Lucy shouted in an undertone, shaking her sister. Susan nodded and ran onto the beach already shooting an arrow at the boat and loaded another one.

"Drop him!" She shouted. The two soldiers took the command to heart and dropped the dwarf into the water. Peter and Edmund rushed forward, already diving for the water as Susan released her arrow, it thudded into a soldier's chest and threw him overboard. His companion quickly looked at Susan and gathered his wits. He jumped off the boat and swam for the shore, disappearing into the forest.

Edmund emerged out of the water seconds later, dragging the boat with him. Evangeline who was itching to be a part of the mission ran forward and assisted him with pulling it up onto the sand, securing it with the anchor. Peter soon returned to the surface, dragging the dwarf in his arms, Edmund dropped the anchor down and rushed to his brother's aid, helping him with the small yet heavy load. After that, Lucy made a good use of her dagger as Peter laid the dwarf down, she cut his bindings to let him spit out water.

"Good teamwork," Evangeline grinned, congratulating the group. The others smiled back, she had voiced their thoughts, and each was happy with saving a Narnian's life.

She turned to look at the dwarf who glared at Susan, "Drop him!?"

Never had Evangeline seen someone so short.

* * *

**A/N: To ElvesWizardsCentaursOhmy, no more thinking or speaking of pirates :L**


	6. Trumpkin

**A/N: Ahh! I'm finally done writing this chapter! I'm sorry for not uploading another chapter in such a long time, something along the lines of three months! I swear, the story is so laggy, and I'm telling myself off for it because I want to start writing battle scenes :L The next chapter should be posted up soon, 'cos I already pre-wrote it ;D**

**Disclaimer: Well, it's the usual, isn't it? I do not own Narnia nor its actors or characters. If I did, then Skandar Keynes would be in my house, and I wouldn't be sitting here writing. Nuh ah, I would be duelling him instead, *sschhhing! Takes sword out* **

"**For Narnia!!!"**

**

* * *

  
**

**Chapter 6 – Trumpkin**

Susan scoffed, "A thank you would suffice."

The dwarf pointed angrily back towards the water, "They were doing fine drowning me without your help!"

"Maybe we should have let them!" Peter replied calmly, yet his voice seemed to be louder than the dwarf's.

"What is your name, Mr. Dwarf?" Evangeline asked, trying to calm the developing shouting match down.

The dwarf looked at her, irritated, "Daughters of Eve… Addressing us Narnian's with the title Mister…" He muttered under his breath. He may have thought that they didn't hear him, but they picked up every single word that he said. He calmed himself down and inhaled and then exhaled, like he was plucking up the courage to be nice. "The name is Trumpkin. And thank you for saving me…" He said stiffly.

Lucy grinned, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Trumpkin." She said, immediately taking a liking to the grumpy red dwarf. "Why were those men trying to drown you, anyway?"

"They're Telmarines… That's what they do…"

"Telmarines? In Narnia?" Edmund asked, surprised. He had never heard about them before, but he was sure, that like the Calormen, that they were up to no good.

"Great…" Susan mumbled, "Now we have another different race to worry about. It's not like the Calormen aren't already enough trouble…"

The red dwarf chuckled and paused, seemingly to go over the conversation again. His eyes widened, "Where have you been in the last few hundred years?"

"Earth?" Evangeline asked a question as she answered, she wasn't so sure about the few hundred years' part, as she was only fifteen.

"Well, that's because you haven't been to Narnia before, Evangeline," Lucy said, stepping in to answer for her, "You wouldn't believe us if we told you…" She said to Trumpkin.

"What's there not to believe? We haven't been gone for that long… It's only been a year…" Susan said, pondering. Everyone knew that her mind was still logical, even though it had worn off somewhat from her last visit to Narnia.

"That might not be it Susan. What if Narnia's time was different from Earth? Remember how we ruled here for fifteen years, and when we returned through the wardrobe, not even a minute has passed?" Peter asked.

Edmund's eyes widened, "Maybe Evangeline was right from the start… Exactly how long have we've been gone for?" He asked Trumpkin.

The poor dwarf was still trying to figure it all out, muttering under his breath and nodding to himself.

"The Kings and Queens of Old were from another world… There were four of them that ruled side by side… There was High King Peter, the Magnificent, his brother, The Just King, Edmund, and his sisters, Queen Susan the Gentle and Queen Lucy the Valiant…" Trumpkin said, as if revising a math timetable from the top of his head.

Evangeline laughed, "I cannot believe that you four even had nicknames…"

Trumpkin paused and looked up at all of them, staring with wonderment and utter confusion. "No… It can't be…"

"Oh, how rude of us!" Lucy exclaimed, "Pete, we forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Lucy, this is my brother Edmund, my sister Susan and this is my older brother Peter." She then grinned at Evangeline, "And this is my brother's girlfriend, Evangeline."

"LUCY!" Evangeline yelled.

"Which brother?" Susan asked, laughing.

Edmund looked away to hide his embarrassment from his sisters. But as he did it, he caught Evangeline's eyes, which glinted emerald in the sun. The girl snickered softly as if knowing what was going on in his head and looked away.

Evangeline met Trumpkin's steely gaze, "Girlfriend… Huh…" The dwarf murmured.

"No… I'm just a friend… I've known this family for years…" Evangeline replied with a smile. "How long have they been gone for?" She asked.

The dwarf looked flabbergasted at her, "Well… I… Thousands of years!"

"Thousands of years?" Lucy asked.

Trumpkin rubbed his temples. "I really don't know…"

Peter looked at everyone and then back to the dwarf, "It doesn't matter how long we've been gone, we need to find the rest of the Narnians and really find out exactly what's going on."

"And who are you to suggest that?" Trumpkin asked.

"High King Peter, the Magnificent," Peter said, not with one bit of uncertainty.

Both Trumpkin and Evangeline laughed.

"Are you sure about that, High King Peter the Magnificent?" Evangeline asked mock-like. "It's hard to believe Pete, you're dripping wet!"

Trumpkin chuckled with her, "Aye, I agree right there…"

"You wouldn't be so sure about mocking me, Evangeline…" Peter replied, drawing out his sword.

"You're asking me to duel you? You know so well that I can't use a blade," She replied in disbelief.

"No… not you, Ange. Him," Peter said, motioning Trumpkin with his sword.

"You're going to duel a dwarf… Well, that's slightly…" Evangeline looked for the word, "Unfair…"

"That's exactly where I come in, don't I, Peter?" Edmund asked.

Peter nodded to his brother, who stepped forward to take his place. Peter smiled, handing Trumpkin his sword. The dwarf looked warily at the blade and took it, the weight of the sword held him down. Edmund hid his smile and drew out his sword, shrugging his shoulders as if stretching.

"I still think it's unfair," Evangeline muttered, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucy nod in agreement.

"He should be fine," Susan said meeting the disbelieving eyes of Evangeline, "Most Narnians were trained to fight when they were young."

It seemed that Trumpkin had heard every word they said, because right after Susan's sentence left her lips he swung Peter's sword at Edmund, catching him off guard. Edmund had just only blocked it in time and wheeled back, only to bend his knees and attack Trumpkin. The dwarf deflected it with difficulty as the blade was too long for him, but he seemed to manage the weapon finely. They exchanged blows and parried it off, and when Edmund ducked, Trumpkin elbowed him in the face.

"Counter attack…" Peter said to himself, "Not bad..."

It seemed that Trumpkin really was the one who was controlling this duel, because of him; Edmund was jumping from his short swipes to the feet and wheeling back at the force of each blow.

But then it became Edmund who was in control of the duel. He parried and began to advance onto Trumpkin. Slash, thrust, block, slash to the left, flick back to the right, and before Evangeline could count how many steps he had gone through, the blade had flown out of Trumpkin's hand. Edmund's finished form had his sword handle close to his face, still tensed up and defensive. He slowly lowered his sword down and relaxed into a grin, putting his sword back into his scabbard.

"Beards and bee stings!" Trumpkin cried, "I apologise for not believing you, your majesties…"

Edmund shrugged, "It's alright. Most people don't anyway…" He said, glancing at Evangeline.

She met his glance with new found respect and curtsied when he made her way to her. "Your majesty," she said with amusement, replaying the scene in her mind. The slashing, the way the blades collided, how she wanted to be in control of a weapon and be sure about how to use it.

"Don't do that, Ange," he replied with a grin, running a hand through his hair.

"Why not, your grace?" she asked, still mocking him.

"Because it's annoying."

Evangeline grinned back at him, showing pearly white teeth and motioned her head to Trumpkin. "Are you not going to shake hands with him?"

"I think we've come to a silent agreement with whose better at duelling."

"Ahh… And that would be Trumpkin…" Evangeline joked. When Edmund sighed she smiled playfully and nudged him in the arm, "But someone really has to teach me those moves one day…"

"That would be Peter."

"Why not you?" Evangeline asked.

"Because I'm a terrible teacher and Peter was the one who brought you here, he's the one who is responsible for your safety and therefore is the one who is going to teach you how to defend yourself," Edmund replied.

"So, I'm a thorn in your side?" She asked defensively, folding her arms.

"No, you're not…" Edmund replied, "Well… Not yet anyway…"

Evangeline sighed and shook her head, "I shouldn't have come. I knew it would be a bad idea…"

"And not have an adventure? To stay in boring old England and envy the characters from the books that you read? I don't think so, Evangeline, you're not like that. You like adventure. I can see the excitement in your eyes. And I saw it too right after my little duel. You wanted to be a part of it," Edmund said. He smiled when Evangeline looked at him in wonder.

"How did you know that?" She asked.

"Being a king with less attention, where you can sit on the side and not be addressed at the same time with an important matter at hand can make you observant. Peter relied on me to give judgement, and usually I'm right about the things that I can see. You can look into a man's eyes and you can tell whether they're speaking the truth or not. It's always the eyes, Evangeline, because eyes are the key to unlock someone's mind."

_I shouldn't look at him directly too much then…_

"You're teaching me already…" Evangeline replied.

"Not a chance," He said with a grin.

***

Within fifteen minutes of walking, the group of 5 and a half found themselves back at Cair Paravel, dragging the Telmarine boat along the shoreline where they had found a shortcut to get back to the ruins. Peter and Susan had begun to hurry the group up with packing supplies, even though Evangeline and Trumpkin protested for some rest. Peter said that they could have a nap, only if they had finished packing.

"He's beginning to sound like my father…" Evangeline muttered to Trumpkin as they walked down to the Treasure Room.

The dwarf laughed and whistled at the sight. He wasted no time in looking for a new weapon. Jewellery and various other things clattered on the stone floor as he sifted through the piles of treasure. "It's like a dragon's horde in here…"

"Dragons?" Evangeline asked, going through the wardrobe on the side of the room. After seeing what Susan, Edmund, Lucy and Trumpkin can do with their weapons, she wasn't so sure about her safety anymore. She was looking for armour, any sort, even though it would be difficult to pack.

"Dragons are greedy creatures. Big lizards with wings. They would steal anything shiny and bring it back into their cave, and if anyone or any creature takes something from their horde, they'll notice that it's missing, and find vengeance on who ever stole it from them."

"Have you ever met one before?" Evangeline asked.

Trumpkin shook his head, "Nay, I'm not that unfortunate. It has only been recited in legends and stories…"

"Are there any dragons in Narnia?"

"No, I think that they have been driven off, or killed," he replied.

"Killed?!" Evangeline exclaimed, "But, by who?"

The dwarf shrugged, "The White Witch, her followers, greedy men…"

"But aren't dragons hard to kill? The books that I read said that they're magical, after all." Evangeline placed aside a simple dress that she had found and liked. It was dark blue, with silver stitching and reminded her of the stars twinkling in the sky at night. She then rummaged through a box that she had found, and took the things that were a necessity.

"Legend said that to kill a dragon, you have to fight it with ice, if you can douse, or freeze its flame, it'll die," Trumpkin replied, strapping a dagger to his belt.

"Maybe that's why the White Witch would be so successful in getting rid of them. Peter told me that she was literally ice… Aha! Found it," Evangeline shouted, dragging out a plate of armour that had strings at the back like a corset. It's the type that goes over the persons head when they wore it, as it covered the whole body, apart from the limbs - from the shoulders down to the waist. It was black and silver in colour, the outside was covered with welded metal, and on the inside it had leather padding. She placed that aside and found a pair of grey pants and a black tunic to go with it.

"A complete set…" She murmured, "I'm done Trumpkin. What about you?" Evangeline asked in a louder voice.

"Yes, I've finished as well. Take a few pieces of jewellery; we might be able to trade it…"

Evangeline nodded, even though she didn't understand the reason of trading. So far, apart from Trumpkin and the Telmarines, she hadn't seen anyone else to trade it with. She found a silver ring that looked rather nice. It had intricate knotting on the sides of the main picture, which was a silver eagle engraved into the black stone. Even though she knew it was made for a man, she wore it on her thumb. Trumpkin handed her a necklace with a pendant of a snake with ruby eyes, she wasn't sure about whether she liked it or not, but put it around her neck, nonetheless.

Susan and Lucy soon came running down the stairs, and went through their treasure chests again. "Hey Susan, do you think this is enough?" Evangeline called over, showing them her pile. The older girl shook her head and started loading more things into Evangeline's arms.

Evangeline sighed and yawned, eyeing at a goblet that Trumpkin decided to throw on. "Is that really necessary?"


	7. Row, row, row your boat

**A/N: Well, here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia, but it'd be awesome if I did :D**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Row, row, row your boat…**

Evangeline watched as they loaded the boat with light necessities, water skins and spare clothes wrapped up and placed in bags in which they had found in the treasure room. Evangeline thing's were already in there, a spare dress, the armour set that she had found, undergarments, socks, a light pair of gladiator-like sandals, spare apples, a water skin and a small dagger which could be disguised as a hair pin that Lucy gave her. The young queen had said that she had no further use for them, because she always wore her dagger on her belt. Evangeline still had her suitcase filled with books, a spare sketchbook and notepad, pens and pencils of various colours, and charcoals.

Once the work was done, Trumpkin had decided that it was time to set out to search for the rest of the Narnians and their whereabouts. After the dwarf and the Pevensies got into the boat, there was hardly any room left for her, apart from the space next to Edmund, which he needed to use to guide the boat.

"Great," Evangeline muttered, "Just great…"

"Get in the boat, Evangeline!" she heard Peter say. She placed her foot on the bottom of the boat to steady herself. Edmund offered his hand to steady her but she ignored it, _now's not the time_.

"What? And get knocked over by Edmund? There's hardly any room left!"

She stepped into the boat, but as it rocked, she lost her balance and fell into the water.

The others were laughing beyond insanity as she stood up. Her dress, from the waist down was wet, and she rolled her eyes. Every fibre of her being was regretting taking Edmund's hand to transport herself into Narnia. The journey so far, unlike what the others said, it wasn't fun being in another world, it was annoying.

"Seems like you don't need any trouble getting knocked over," Edmund grinned. "Maybe it would be a better idea to accept my help, next time, just maybe..."

"Sorry," Evangeline apologized, "I couldn't resist. The water looked great."

Edmund smirked as the others laughed.

"Maybe now's the time for you to be helpful?" Evangeline asked.

Edmund grinned boyishly and offered his hand once more, pulling Evangeline into the boat and steadying her, so that no more accidents could happen.

"Thanks," she said, sitting down on the bench.

"Anytime, Soaking one," he replied.

Evangeline sighed and put her head in her hands, why did she agree to come to Narnia? Now she had obtained herself a new nickname, one that wasn't wanted. Instead of arguing back, she gathered her skirt together and wringed out the excess water onto Edmund's knees, where she knew, the water was going to trickle down into his boots.

She looked at Edmund and grinned, waiting for his reaction of annoyance. Instead she received a smile, one that looked calculating, and immediately regretted doing that because she knew that he was going to get her back somehow, and it may go on forever.

Peter launched the boat and hopped in, balancing on the boat as it rocked, making his way to his seat. Once he was seated he started rowing, following the direction of the river.

Lucy began to hum 'Row, row, row your boat' absently which made Peter smile. He kept his rowing in tempo with the music.

The water itself was so pure and beautiful, unlike the River Thames back in England. Its colour was blue, and it was so clear that Evangeline could see tiny fish darting underwater. She closed her eyes as the rhythmic splashing of the paddles through water lulled her to sleep.

And that was exactly when Edmund had decided for some payback.

"Ow! Could you refrain from hitting me with that thing?" Evangeline cried.

"It's not a thing Soaking Beauty, it's a steering rod," Edmund retorted, deliberately pushing the rod over to her side so that she could be cramped up on the side of the boat.

"You're making me go off course, Ed!" Peter yelled, losing the beat of his rowing.

"Sorry, Pete, it can't be helped. This one got my boots wet," He replied as he righted the steering rod again. A gust of wind blew over the river, making the water ripple in a pattern that looked like fish scales. Evangeline shivered. She was hoping that the sun would dry it out, but there seemed to be little sunshine as the mountain side was blocking it out.

"Cold there, Soaking Beauty?" Edmund asked in mock sincerity. Evangeline nodded, and gazed at him with wary eyes.

"Where's my jacket?" Edmund asked himself looking wildly around, "Oh I forgot! I left it at the Train Station! Sorry there wet one."

Evangeline couldn't take it anymore. Edmund needed to be taught a lesson on how to keep his mouth closed. She lunged at his throat, but he backed up, and placed himself on the side of the boat.

"Hold onto the boat, Lu," Susan said, she could tell that this was going to get rocky. Peter and Trumpkin took the advice to heart and gripped onto the edge of the boat tightly, they didn't want to get thrown overboard.

With one push, Evangeline had managed to make Edmund fall into the water. The boat rocked from side to side, but no one else managed to fall into the river but him.

"Man overboard!" Lucy laughed.

"Ahh, finally, Edmund meets his downfall, nice one Evangeline," Susan praised.

"My pleasure," Evangeline replied grinning broadly.

"How fares the water, my sodden king?" Evangeline asked, trying very hard not to laugh like the others, she ended up smirking as Edmund resurfaced.

Edmund glared at her, treading water as he ran his fingers through his hair, "It's great, just like you said. The only tweak in it is that it's a little cold."

"Do you require my assistance, my liege?" Evangeline said, finally cracking up.

"Yes, soaking beauty, it would be greatly appreciated..."

Evangeline offered her hand out to Edmund, gripping hard on the side of the boat in case he tried to pull her into the water with him. Luckily he didn't. Edmund was heavy to pull up only because he had layers of clothes and his boots were now filled up with water, much to Evangeline's satisfaction.

When he got into the boat and pulled his boots out to empty them back into the river, he shivered as a light breeze came by.

"Are you cold, my sodden king?" Evangeline asked politely, she knew she got away with the voice of genuine sincerity. Edmund nodded, taking off his tunic.

_Please, not here. Don't take your clothes off in front of me... I'm not family, or Trumpkin…_ Evangeline thought. A sigh of relief almost escaped her lips as she saw that he had another shirt underneath.

She continued to taunt him, remembering and repeating what he had said to her five minutes ago. "Oh, then let me get your jacket for you, wait a minute, I almost forgot! You told me that you left it at the train station! Oh well!"

Edmund had another one of his calculating look in his eyes as he raised his tunic over Evangeline's head. She knew that he was going to wring it on her. She cringed, waiting for the water to come. But it didn't. Edmund discarded the idea and placed his tunic on the side, a trick shouldn't be used twice on one day.

"Actually Evangeline, you would do just fine..." He said as he turned to her again.

"What?" She managed to say before he grabbed her by the waist, and drew her into his arms, hugging her in wet clothes.

"No..." Evangeline moaned as she felt the water seep into her body, she was cold enough as it is.

Evangeline tried to wriggle free, but his grip was so strong, after a few tries, she gave up.

"I hate you Edmund," she muttered darkly. She could tell that he was taken aback. To show that she was only speaking in jest, she looked at his face, and grinned.

"What?" He asked, meeting her green eyes.

"You look so much better like this..."

"I look better in wet clothes?"

"No, your hair, it gives you a more 'devil may care' look," Evangeline replied, hoping that at the compliment he'd let her go.

"Suits him just fine then, doesn't it?" Susan said, grinning.

Lucy giggled and grinned with her sister, "Definitely," She agreed.

"Could you let me go now? Please?" Evangeline asked.

"No way, you're so warm, like a toaster..." He said pulling her in closer.

Evangeline pouted.

"I'd laugh if your face got stuck like that, just like a bulldog, like the one Mrs Mack has," Edmund teased, everyone (well, except Trumpkin) knew who Mrs Mack was, she was an elderly woman who lived on the Pevensie's street, and whenever Evangeline came to visit them, the bulldog would chase her.

"You always had a negative aura that makes dogs attack you, Evangeline, it's like you're a magnetic field for that sort of thing," Peter added, laughing. Evangeline quickly rearranged her face into a glare.

"If looks could kill, I'd be dead, twice over," Edmund continued. When he realised that she'd been taunted enough, he let her go, helping her back to her seat. After some minutes of silence and of Evangeline and Edmund unsuccessfully trying to warm themselves up, Trumpkin broke the silence.

"What's a toaster?" He asked. Evangeline and the Pevensie's exchanged knowing glances and laughed.

Peter began to explain what a toaster was, Trumpkin understood what it's purpose was for, heating up bread slices to give it a crusty texture. "How does it work?" Trumpkin asked.

"Well, it uses electricity to work..." Peter started.

"What's electricity?" Trumpkin asked gruffly.

"Electricity is a source of energy that we use to run our home appliances, a lot of things in our house rely on it."

"How is the electricity made?" Trumpkin asked. Peter was silent for a bit as he racked his brain around for the answer.

"Ummm... Coal, they burn coal to produce electricity."

"How does burning coal produce electricity?"

Peter sighed in defeat, explaining the workings in his world were too complicated. "Don't worry..."

Susan laughed when she looked at Peter's face, "Don't worry too much about it, Peter, if we're in Narnia, we concentrate on Narnia…"

Peter nodded his head and continued rowing, waiting for Lucy to start humming. When the music didn't come, he shook his head and started humming to himself.

***

Guided while being shouted at the same time by Trumpkin for missing the stop at the opening that lead to the forest, Peter and Edmund had finally managed to guide the boat onto a pebbled bank; which seemed more safer than getting off on the side of a river.

Even though Evangeline wanted to be the first to get off the boat, Lucy beat her to it, as she had almost nothing to carry and began to wander off. She shook her head and helped the others pull the boat up to anchor it to the spot.

"Hello there! It's alright… I'm a friend." She heard Lucy call out to nothing.

The group all simultaneously turned around. At first Evangeline spotted nothing and began hoping that for everyone's sake that Lucy wasn't delusional. She then saw a mass of black fur moving closer, growling. Lucy was delusional after all; she was talking to a bear.

"Your majesty… Don't move…" Trumpkin warned.

As if Lucy hadn't heard what the dwarf had just said, she turned around abruptly, which triggered the bear's instinct to attack her.

Lucy ran as it began to chase after her and fell as it took a swipe at her feet. Everything was going much too fast for Lucy, she felt disoriented, her mind was alert, but she couldn't react fast enough to anything. She didn't know what to do, even if she did know what to do in this situation, she must have forgotten it.

She shrieked as the bear rose up its paw to crush her, it roared but stopped as a smoothed out white rock hit the side of its head.

"LUCY!!!" She heard Evangeline and her siblings yell.

* * *

**A/N: OMG… Who the hell threw that rock? **

**LOL, help me and Peter out here? I wasn't sure whether they had electricity at that time, and my friend said that if it was during or after the war, there would be. So I wrote a small scene about it, but it might not be correct to how electricity was produced back then… Ahh god, I don't live in Britain, Australia's board of studies only teaches us Australian history, and a little bit of Britain's 'cos of federation and shizzle. Ok, now I'm rambling like my history teacher...**

**If I wrote something wrong, please tell me so that I won't make the story seem so out of its era. Although I have no problem doing it already…**

**Leave a review and peace out,**

**Wyngana**


	8. Nothing's safe

**A.N: I know, you all hate me right now *covers face* but please don't kill me. I was in Europe for 18 days of my holiday, which was basically all of my holidays, so I didn't have any time to post. Also, I wasn't happy with this chapter when I wrote it, so I delayed putting it on fanfic, but now, I don't have anything better to replace it, so I hope you can forgive me for my terrible writing.**

**Disclaimer: Yes, yes, I do not own Narnia nor it's characters.  
**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 8 – Nothing's safe**

"Hey! You there! Get away from her!" Evangeline yelled at the top of her lungs. It didn't seem to get the bear's attention. She lobbed another rock at the bear's head. It hit him with a plonk.

"Oi! Yeah you!" She yelled as the bear turned to face her, she took a brief glance at the others. They needed more time to get out their weapons as Edmund and Peter were struggling to get their swords out of the boat. "You want food, right?" The bear roared in reply.

"Come and get me! Don't I look delectable! Look, I got more meat than that scrawny child you were attacking! Don't you want to get a taste of this?" As she said that, she threw another rock at the bears head. Instead of knocking him out like she intended, it only angered him more.

Over the bear's roar, she could hear Edmund shouting, "Shoot it, Susan! Shoot it!"

She took a glance at Susan's direction and saw that the girl had already fitted the bow with an arrow. What was she waiting for? She quickly returned her attention to the task at hand.

Her red dress seemed to attract the bear's hunger like a bull. She had an idea about the Spanish bullfighting and jumped while waving her arms around, lobbing yet another rock at the bear's head. Having enough of getting hit by rocks, its attention was diverted from Lucy and it ran after Evangeline.

"Oh dear..." Evangeline muttered.

With no avail, she threw another rock at the bear's head, trying to bring it down. Knowing that it won't do any damage except for angering it more, she abandoned the idea and made a run for it, dropping the rocks as she did so.

As the bear drew closer, it growled, and swiped at Evangeline's feet, tripping her over like it did to Lucy. He was about to bring his fist down but she rolled away and hopped onto her feet again. The animal growled in confusion. What a slippery breakfast he had! Instead she ran behind him, confusing the poor creature so he stopped charging and turned his head, trying to look for her. Evangeline jumped onto his back but didn't stop there, or otherwise she would have lost her momentum. A natural force of instinct took over and she leapt forwards and wrapped her arms around his furry neck.

Evangeline's intention was to get the bear to start hurting itself instead, but he kept on moving and shaking his neck to get her off. To her it felt like her bones were rattling against each other.

"Shoot it!" Evangeline shouted. If she had let go, then the bear would crush her. It seemed like Susan didn't need another command. An arrow flew to the bears heart with a thump, Evangeline could feel it vibrating through the bear's body. It gave another roar, and crashed to the ground.

Evangeline heard the crunch as she landed on the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come from all over her body. But when she opened her eyes, she realised that only her leg was stuck between the ground and the bear's neck, and the crunch was the grinding of the pebbles. While trying desperately to pull her leg out, she took a look at the arrow that killed the bear, it wasn't a red one that matched those belonging to Susan's as the feathers were black.

It was Trumpkin's arrow.

It dawned on her that she was so close to getting herself killed, she tried to hide it, but she was felt shocked. A pair of hands helped her lift the bear's neck off her leg and she found that it was Edmund. Gratefully, she pulled it out and found that it wasn't broken or anything.

"Trying to wrestle a bear now, Evangeline?" She heard Edmund joke as he sat down beside her. Evangeline was startled that he was making a joke out of it; she had almost killed herself in the process! Seeing the look of shock on her face, Edmund immediately felt guilty.

Of course, it was her first, half-kill, which meant basically nothing to him, but for Evangeline, it was a shock as she probably had never seen anything die right before her eyes.

He took her hand to give her comfort. "Deep breaths, Evangeline, breathe..."

Evangeline did what he said, having no idea that she was holding her breath in. She sat there breathing deeply, and found that she felt better after that. It was strange yet sweet to have Edmund holding her hand, but she didn't pull away from his touch, she needed the comfort.

"Oh my god, Edmund, I killed something..." she breathed.

"You didn't exactly kill it, you only angered it..." He said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. No reply came from Evangeline; he thought that she would have some sort of comeback.

"Is your leg alright?" He asked gently, giving her hand a squeeze.

She nodded absently, "I think its fine..."

Evangeline watched as Trumpkin poked the bear with his bow, "Thank you..." She murmured. Trumpkin nodded.

"Do you think he was talking?" Edmund asked.

"No, I don't think so… He wouldn't have attacked Lu if he was..." Peter replied, hugging his sister. Evangeline gave a small sigh of relief. At least she didn't kill an intelligent talking animal. The Pevensie's wouldn't forgive her and she would never have forgiven herself either, even though she had never met a talking beast before.

"Get treated dumb for long enough, that's exactly what happens," said Trumpkin.

The others seemed to agree, even though it wasn't fair.

"Are you ok, Lucy?" Peter asked his sister gently.

Lucy nodded, and buried her head into his shirt.

Evangeline could tell that he was still worried, and he was doing a terrible job of hiding it.

"Evangeline, what do you think you were doing! You could've gotten yourself killed!" Peter shouted. Great, Evangeline thought, he's venting out his worry into anger on me.

"I wasn't thinking, Peter, it was instinctive," She replied flatly, she didn't want to meet Peter's eyes as her intentions seemed to be misunderstood and lay down on the ground instead.

The sky seemed to be in an unusually bright blue, which did not quite match her mood as she would've liked.

"Peter, when you were tending to Lu, you didn't have enough time to look at Evangeline's face," interjected Edmund, "She was shocked for killing something, even though she only helped. She knew that she was risking her life, only to save Lucy's. Lucy could've been wounded if she didn't create the diversion..."

Evangeline rolled her head to meet his eyes and gave him a small smile.

"Even though it was a pretty weak one, who, in their right mind would think about wrestling a bear to the ground?" Edmund added. Evangeline punched him, hearing a satisfactory 'Ow' as she grinned.

Knowing that he had cheered Evangeline up, Edmund withdrew. Evangeline didn't complain, she stood up and took a closer look at the bear. Its fur was black, with some strands of light brown. She stepped around it to take a look at its face, his mouth was slightly gaped open from his last roar, and his black beady eyes stared into the distance.

Evangeline kneeled down beside it and dipped her head in salute, closing his eyes in respect for his soul.

"Your dress is ripped," She heard Edmund say from behind her. She sighed in defeat, one minute he could be so nice, the next he's completely annoying. Evangeline examined her dress, the part where her knees landed were ripped, and where the bear took a swipe at her was also ripped, from the back of her knees and across.

"Well, that would be a problem..." She said, shooting Edmund a glare as he smirked.

"Thanks for your diversion..." Lucy said, stepping away from Peter to hug her.

Evangeline gave a small smile and returned her hug, "Think nothing of it..."

"That was a clean kill," She murmured to Trumpkin.

Trumpkin nodded, "See how much damage you could do with just one arrow?"

This time Evangeline nodded, "Are we going to bury him?"

"No, we're going to cut it out for food. It would be a long way until we meet up with the rest..." The red dwarf replied.

The girl drew herself up, cringing while shivering in disgust and walked away. If was going to be messy, she'd just let the boys handle it. As she walked to the boat, Susan laid an arm on her shoulder.

"Thanks for saving Lucy. I didn't know what to do... He could've been a talking animal... I hesitated, it almost cost Lucy her life."

Evangeline smiled, "It's alright, I understand..."

Susan smiled in return, out in relief and joy that she didn't kill something. "If you ever need anything just ask..."

"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind..." Evangeline said as she rummaged through her bag. After a few minutes, Evangeline gave up.

"Actually, Susan, did you bring a spare change of clothes?"

Susan nodded and went through her bag, pulling out dress after dress after dress.

"These?" She asked. Holding out a red one which was similar to the ripped one Evangeline was wearing.

Evangeline shook her head, "I was thinking more along the lines of something the boys are wearing, just the shirts. I already have pants." She didn't want to touch the black undershirt that was for the amour, it would make her look like she was in a mourning period with black pants and black shirt. Besides, it was hot, and the blacker you wore, the more heat it would've absorbed.

Susan smiled, "You are lucky I thought of bringing these."

She pulled out a light-pinkish white long sleeve shirt as an under garment, a black leather belt which was similar in style to Susan's and last of all, a rose red tunic which matched the colour of Evangeline's current dress.

Evangeline thanked her and as fast as she could, she ran with the bundle of clothes in her arms to the biggest thicket that she could find. She then loosened the knots on the back of her dress and got changed.

Once they were done cutting the bear's meat, the dwarf and the two young men went to wash their hands in the river. All of the meat was wrapped up inside leaves, which Lucy (to Edmund's relief) was told to collect.

Evangeline had finished changing from her ripped dress into simpler clothes, and walked to the boat while folding it. She thanked Susan once more and fitted her pants into her leather boots and strapped her twin daggers to her back.

Once that was done, she turned to her belt, taking it off her neck from where she had hung it earlier. Evangeline placed it around her waist, but fumbled with where the end of the belt was supposed to go into the metal ring.

She took aimless steps while concentrating on the belt, but stopped as she thought that she had mastered it. When she let go, it just unravelled in her hands. Evangeline frowned as she could hear Edmund chuckle at her as he walked towards her. She tried once more, but gave up.

"Need help?" He asked.

Evangeline nodded, and followed Edmund's hand as he tightened the belt around her waist, looping it this way and that, bringing it down to the next metal loop and secured it there.

"Done," He said as he stepped back to examine her. "Looks good, though I preferred you in your dress... You look like a man."

She ignored the last comment and shook her head. "It was ripped, remember?"

"It was the bear's fault..." Edmund replied.

"Besides, I don't plan on hiking in the forest in a dress..." Evangeline added.

"Susan and Lucy do it..."

"Yeah, well, they're trained Queens because you say they are. That means that they can go anywhere in a dress, I'm a normal British girl who has never hiked in a forest wearing that attire, I cannot do it." She retorted, "I'll wear another dress when we're not hiking... Just for you."

"Really?" He asked with hope in his voice.

"No."

Evangeline examined her short-sleeved tunic. The embroideries on the hem of her sleeves, the neckline and the bottom of her tunic were in gold, they spiralled this way and that like the vines that grew on the rubble of Cair Paravel. She found that the pants were more comfortable than the dress, it was easier to run in, and didn't get snagged on anything, which suited the environment and the amount of hiking they would be doing.

The girl glanced at the forest, trying to peer through its denseness. She thought that she heard a low growl coming close to where they were standing, she jumped and grabbed Edmund's arm.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his dark eyes flashed with concern when Evangeline's face became pale.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"The low growl…" Evangeline replied.

Edmund shook his head, "You're probably being paranoid…"

"Yes Edmund, I would probably never recover after that episode," Evangeline said sarcastically, placing a hand over her forehead and pretending to faint.

"Ooh, dramatics, I see… Well, if you just wanted to say something, you didn't need to jump."

"I'm not being dramatic," Evangeline replied tersely, she paused for a bit, looking at her surroundings, "I'm scared. What if Narnia isn't like what everyone thought it was before Edmund? How is everyone so assured that we'll be safe?"

"It's not safe, Evangeline. Didn't you hear Trumpkin's story?" Edmund asked.

She shook her head in reply, "No, I don't think so, I must've fallen asleep."

"You're probably not used to the timing here like the rest of us, sit, I'll try my best to recite it. It seemed like a long story to me…"

Evangeline obeyed and sat down next to Edmund, trying unsuccessfully to find a comfortable spot on the pebbly-hard surface. She glanced at the others, who were placing the bear's meat into their bags and shivered, not wanting to think about what she would do when they would start to force her to eat the meat. Edmund waited patiently as she fidgeted around for a bit, and soon began Trumpkin's story.

She was surprised when she found that Edmund was a great story teller, usually whenever someone re-told her a story, she would just drowse off. But his voice seemed to be refreshing for her, rising and falling whenever it came to bad parts. "So, the man who kidnapped Trumpkin, did he have a name?" Evangeline asked after Edmund had finished.

"I'm not sure… I think his name was Lord Mizar or something… I never pay attention to details." Edmund replied with a shrug, in Trumpkin's story, Ed had never used any names apart from the dwarf's. It was either, 'that man', 'those soldiers' or 'that lord', even so, Evangeline still found the story interesting.

"And the man who got knocked in the head… How old did Trumpkin say he was?" She asked, drawing her knees towards her chest.

Edmund tried to search for an answer in his mind, but shook his head, "He didn't say… To me he sounded pretty young. If he was older, he wouldn't have gotten knocked off his horse."

"How could you be so sure? He bumped into a tree headfirst, have some sympathy…"

"He's a boy, if he was a man, then he would have had more riding experience, and would have dodged that tree," Edmund argued.

Evangeline's brow creased, not wanting to let it go, "Fine, two shillings and interest if 'the boy' is 'a man'…"

"And by 'a man' you mean?" Edmund asked.

"That he's older than you are," She replied, offering her hand to close the bet.

She watched Edmund's eyebrows crease with some amusement, he probably thought that she thought that he wasn't a man, well he wasn't exactly one yet anyway.

"Deal," Edmund replied determinedly, shaking her hand.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Evangeline picked up another white pebble and began to rub it, wondering where all the pebbles came from.

"How'd you do it?" Edmund asked, out of the blue.

"Do what?"

"Jump on that bear. I saw you roll over, you know…" He broke off with a shrug. "I mean, I know you take sports lessons and all that, but how did you train to become that fast?"

It was Evangeline's turn to shrug. "I don't know… I wasn't thinking, and I've never trained too much on speed. I did gymnastics for one year… But that was about it… Adrenaline rush, I guess…"

"Edmund! Evangeline!" They heard Peter call out.

"What now?" Edmund grumbled. He stood up and offered his hand, Evangeline accepted it and pulled herself up.

"You've gotten changed…" Peter pointed out.

"Yes, that was because my dress was ripped and that I simply cannot walk in a forest in a dress."

"Susan and Lucy do it…" He replied.

Evangeline rolled her eyes, did they really have to compare her with their siblings?

"Once again, I -am-not-a-queen," she replied through gritted teeth. "Well, are we going to go?"

Peter nodded his head and began leading the way into the forest.

* * *

**A.N: I know, terrible right? Anyway, tell me of your thoughts while I write Chapter 9, and I'll try to hurry it up a little because I really want to start writing about… Oh, I better not give you any clues ;)**


	9. Into the woods and across

**A.N: Yes, you are allowed to shoot me, pierce me with a lance, hang me from a tree, stab me with a sword or pierce my heart with an arrow because I've neglected you and this fanfic. But even if you do, there would be no more fanfic coming from me, would there? I just got so sick of this chapter so I referred to the movie to help. Argh, I'm so fail. This chapter is extreme lag, so yeah, if you're disappointed, I don't blame you. Hopefully the next chapter would be more promising.  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Evangeline Rosslyn.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 9 - Into the woods and across**

Paranoia was the thing that was bugging Evangeline the most as she entered the forest. She arched her arm back to place it on the hilt of her daggers, looking around and searching to see if there were any wild beasts that were going to lunge themselves at her.

Edmund had rolled his eyes when he saw her doing that, but it didn't stop him from letting go of the hilt of his own sword. There was absolutely no point of having a weapon on hand if you didn't know how to use it. You could swing it, just to keep an attacker away, but it would do minimal damage. Which made Edmund think, who was going to train Evangeline?

It seemed that after a while, Evangeline's paranoia settled down and she began to walk normally like everyone else did. Trekking through the forest was least to say, uneventful. Evangeline's feet ached and she was bored and annoyed with having to watch where she stepped without stumbling over a fallen log and landing into Edmund or Susan, which happened several times.

With the dismal silence that seemed to follow the party everywhere, Evangeline began to pretend that she was off on an adventure, which she was, but she never thought that it would be this quiet. _One tree… _She began to count. _Two trees, three, four, a fallen log, five trees… that's the eleventh bush we've passed… Another fallen log… Are there a lot of storms here in forests?_

"Are we there yet?" she heard Lucy moan, she sounded like a small child sitting for hours in a car.

"I don't think High King Peter even knows where we're going…" Trumpkin muttered. Peter's head whipped around, eyes narrowing, whatever feelings he was trying to compress, it all came out through the blue of his eyes.

"I know where we're supposed to go. We need to head west. To the place where you last saw the Narnians and Prince Caspian…"

"And where is that place exactly, Peter?" Susan asked in exasperation.

Peter was going to reply but was cut off by Evangeline, "Who is Prince Caspian?"

"He's the one who got knocked in the head, obviously," said Edmund.

"Well, he's a prince…"

"And I'm a king," Edmund replied evenly.

Evangeline shrugged, "You're probably right… A prince shouldn't have gotten knocked in the head…"

"So you're agreeing with me? That means that you're withdrawing from the bet?"

"No…" Evangeline slapped Edmund at the back of his head and laughed, "You're a king, and you just got slapped on the head… How does that make anyone less older or younger?"

Edmund looked offended and glared at her.

"As I was saying…" Peter spoke up, obviously having enough of seeing his best friend and brother argue. "We're heading towards where Trumpkin last saw Caspian and his friends, Nikabrik and Trufflehunter."

"More dwarfs?" Evangeline asked.

"Yes and no. Nikabrik is a black dwarf and Trufflehunter is a badger," Trumpkin replied.

"And where Trumpkin lived there were other Narnians in hiding, which is the best place to go to first because Caspian would be finding allies close to the Shuddering Woods…" Peter finished.

"Wait… Allies?" Lucy asked, "Surely there's not another war to fight…" she said, disheartened.

"Our dwarf informant here isn't completely sure about that. But still, we need to be ready," Edmund told his sister.

"I am sure. Those men who captured me were talking about it… That disappearance of their Prince to them means that we Narnians have kidnapped him." Trumpkin replied. "That Lord Miraz said so himself… That he'll destroy the whole forest to get rid of 'these vermin'…"

"But what if it's all just a big misunderstanding?" Evangeline asked, "Can't we just talk to this lord?"

"Nothing is as easy as it seems, Ange. Not everything can be sorted out by mere words…" Peter replied. "Come on, we don't have time to waste… We need to head westwards."

Weariness was weighing on everyone like an anchor, making them more irritable than ever. Even Susan, the ever-so-calm sister seemed snappy.

"Excellent, so we'll just trudge our aching feet into the direction where Peter thinks is west…" she muttered.

"Doesn't anyone have a compass?" Evangeline asked, almost in a whining tone, "What about you Edmund? You had a torch…"

"I'm not your walking survival tool kit!" Edmund exclaimed. Evangeline shrugged and sat down on a fallen log.

"I know where I'm going…" Peter growled.

"Fair enough then, Peter. But if we get lost, it's your fault," said Susan.

Trumpkin rolled his eyes and muttered something about different directions and River Rush.

"I'm sure I know which way west is from Cair Paravel…" Peter snapped back.

The group became quiet, even though they were uncertain, they still followed him.

They all walked in single file, Peter, Lucy, Trumpkin, Susan, Evangeline and then Edmund.

Trying to keep ahead as she didn't want to be taunted by Edmund, Evangeline walked faster than usual and had managed to trip over a branch that got caught between her legs.

Edmund helped her get up, but a large smirk was evident upon his features as he probably thought that it was enough for payback from his slap to the head.

"Why are you so… accident prone, Ange?" Edmund asked.

"I don't know, I never was until I came here…"

Edmund laughed and tucked a stray strand of black hair behind her ear.

Her heart skipped a beat but she wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be an act of kindness or flirtation, so she tried her best to not let any emotions flutter over.

_It was probably nothing, Evangeline. Nothing to get flustered about. You two were arguing, yes? Let it stay that way._

While trying to wrestle her emotions together, she realised that Edmund was staring at her.

"What are you staring at?" she asked.

"N-nothing," Edmund stammered, looking away, "C'mon, we should catch up with the others."

Evangeline nodded, wondering if she had something on her face. She wiped her shirt sleeve self consciously over it and followed him.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"I don't remember this way…" Susan said aloud.

"That's the problem about girls… You can't carry a map in your heads," Peter said, grinning as he strode confidently towards a strange rock formation that had shown up in the middle of the forest.

"That's because our heads already have something in them," Lucy retorted with a smile. Susan and Evangeline laughed, and Edmund smiled to himself because Lucy had bested Peter with only one sentence. He made a mental note to congratulate her later.

"I wish that he'd just listen to the DLF in the first place…" Susan muttered to Lucy.

"DLF?" Edmund asked.

"Dear little friend," Lucy explained, smiling with Susan.

"Oh, that's not at all _patronising_…" Trumpkin muttered.

Evangeline patted his shoulder, "I'm sure you'll be able to think of something to get back at them."

Peter kept on walking forward, only to pause and turn his head in different directions. "I'm not lost…" he muttered to himself.

"No, you're just going in the wrong way…" Trumpkin replied. Evangeline rolled her eyes. That was basically the same thing.

"You last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Woods, the quickest way there is to cross at the River Rush."

"Unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing at the River Rush…"

"That explains it then, you're mistaken."

"But things have changed since we've last been here Peter…" Susan said, "Look at this rock formation. We have never come across it during our travels, and something as big as this couldn't have been overlooked. Landscapes change with time, and so do paths…"

"You can't be too sure about that…" Peter replied.

"Oh, can't you just accept it, Peter? Cair Paravel was in ruins, instead of it being out on a cliff face and behind it was just roads, there is now a peninsula carved around it. I bet that the path that you're following has changed too. Why don't you just listen to Trumpkin?" Susan said, rather irritably.

Peter shook his head, "There might still be a chance that it's there, all we just have to do is cross the River Rush. We shouldn't be too far from it now. If we can't cross it, then we'll take Trumpkin's road."

Susan frowned and her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine."

After 5 minutes walk to the River Rush, Peter's hope was dashed. The river had carved a deep crevice into the rocks, which made it impossible to cross.

Evangeline was surprised when Peter told Susan to shut up after she muttered something about soil erosion. Of all the years that she knew him, Peter had never told any of his sisters off. Something was seriously bugging him. She'd have to talk to him later.

"Is there another way down?" Edmund asked Trumpkin.

"Yeah…" The whole group turned to face him, hopeful to cross the deep ravine. "Falling…"

Evangeline almost stomped her foot in annoyance, she was tired from walking all day, only to be disappointed at their walk had all been in vain. She folded her arms and looked bitterly at the ravine that used to be 'River Rush'.

"But we weren't lost," Peter insisted.

"There's a ford near Beruna, how do you feel about swimming?" Trumpkin said, making up for what he said. Evangeline wanted to groan, more water? Narnian water seemed to be a curse on her, after how cold and wet she felt when Edmund drenched her a few hours back.

Susan nodded, "I'd rather that than walking…"

As Evangeline and the rest of the group turned around to follow Trumpkin, she heard Lucy ask aloud, "Aslan?"

The whole group froze and turned, even Evangeline, even though she didn't know who 'Aslan' was. But something nagged at her, like she was curious to find out who Aslan was because she knew that by the way Lucy spoke his name fondly, he was special to her.

"It's Aslan! It's Aslan over there!" Lucy cried out. Peter walked back to the cliff and peered across.

Evangeline looked to where Lucy was pointing and frowned. She saw nothing.

"Don't you see, he's right…" Lucy's voice faltered. "There."

"Do you see him now?" Trumpkin's voice piped up, filled with doubt.

"I'm not crazy… He was there. He wanted us to follow him."

"He wants us to get ourselves killed," Evangeline muttered to herself.

"I'm sure there are any number of lions in this wood, just like that bear." Peter said gently to his sister.

"I think I know Aslan when I see him."

"Look…" Trumpkin said, "I'm not about to jump off a cliff after someone who doesn't exist."

Evangeline couldn't agree more. But she was confused as to who Aslan was, Trumpkin said that he didn't exist and Lucy claimed that she just saw him. And did Peter just say that Aslan was a lion? She thought Aslan was a man when Lucy first mentioned him. Why would they want to follow a flesh eating animal? They could get attacked again, like that bear.

"Last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up… looking pretty stupid…" Edmund said in Lucy's defence.

Lucy smiled gratefully at Edmund. And Evangeline was just surprised at his… niceness. She wondered what he was talking about when he mentioned about not believing Lucy.

Peter looked back across the ravine and looked at Lucy, "Why wouldn't I have seen him?"

"Maybe you weren't… looking."

"I'm sorry, Lu," Peter said, starting to walk in Trumpkin's direction.

Lucy looked like she was about to cry.

Evangeline sped up to walk next to Peter, pulling him aside like she would during their fitness lessons and talking to him in a low tone. "You don't believe her?" She asked as she kept pace with his walking.

Peter shrugged, "I'm not sure what to believe… Aslan wouldn't have left his land to be under attacked or invaded by foreigners. There must have been some dignitaries or a ruler leading the land while we were gone…"

"And now that your palace was destroyed, do you think anyone really ruled or looked after the land after you left?"

"No… There was probably a lot of turmoil after we disappeared. I'm just confused!" Peter replied with a shake of his head. Evangeline rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, she didn't know how to help him because she's never been in this type of situation before. Leaving some land that you called home, and coming back to see it destroyed.

"Do you believe her?" He asked, after a moment of silence.

Evangeline shrugged, "I don't even know who Aslan is, but you know Lucy never lies."

"She probably misses him…" He replied, not helping her understand more about this 'Aslan'.

Peter's uncertainty was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable. He was their leader, and if he wasn't sure what to do, then there would be conflict.

Evangeline sighed, trying to wrap all this around her head. Peter, her best friend whom she had known for the past three years was a King, or he used to be one. And his siblings ruled with him too. Thousands of years passed when they left this land, Narnia. And it's a different world which used to have talking animals and is under a rule by a foreign king that has taken over the land and brought fear. Lucy believes that she saw something – a lion, which wasn't really there named Aslan. It was all too much to take in.

"Pinch me." She ordered Peter.

"What? Why?" He asked, surprised.

"Tell me that this is all a dream, tell me that I read too many books for my own good. Tell me that Narnia isn't real and this is all just a figment of my imagination." She squeezed her eyes shut, and prepared to get woken up by Peter, who had snuck into her room while she was asleep during the school holidays.

"I should wake any moment now…" She murmured.

When nothing came, she opened her eyes and met Peter's blue ones. He laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not going to pinch you, you know Narnia's real. Look at where we are. I know it's a lot to take in, especially when it's only been less than a day or so. You'll get used to it. Trust me." He gave her a reassuring smile.

They suddenly heard continuous thumping noises, clangs of metal and the creaking of trees, followed up by large shouts coming from the mouths of men. She saw Peter's eyebrows knit together and she knew that it couldn't be such a good sign. When he ran forward, she followed and what lay before her eyes was a horrible wreckage of sweaty men destroying a beautiful landscape.

"The trees!" Lucy almost shouted. Edmund closed a hand around her mouth, but she removed it, understanding to keep her voice low. "They're felling the trees!" she cried in a hoarse whisper.

Evangeline couldn't almost catch it as the loud noises were blocking out what Lucy was saying.

"I take it that we don't want to be seen?" Evangeline whispered as Peter and the rest crouched on their knees. They hid behind a pile of logs and observed what these people were doing. Men were hammering away at trees while others were building things out of it, making war weapons by the looks of it.

There were three big catapults lined up in one area, and many men were carrying logs to the area, where after they were placed down, they were placed up accordingly to resemble the model another man was working on.

Peter shook his head, "Look, they have soldiers…" She followed his outstretched hand and saw a parade of men wearing metal helmets and was dressed in navy blue armour.

"And they're building a bridge…" Trumpkin whispered.

As she heard the whinny of horses coming from her left and she knew by the gasps and tension that the rest of the group had was to hide. Peter and Edmund's shield got caught in the logs as they slide down on their backs, but whoever was on that horse didn't seem to notice them.

"That's him…" Trumpkin said, his voice full of venom as he looked at the figure on the horse. "Miraz…"

"Perhaps this wasn't the best way to come after all," Susan whispered. After taking one last look, the group slid out from their hiding place and disappeared back into the cover of the forest.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"So where exactly did you think you saw Aslan?" Peter asked as they arrived back to the River Rush.

Lucy looked around, giving them accusing looks. "I wish you'd all stop trying to sound like grownups, I didn't think I saw him, I did see him."

"I am a grown up…" Trumpkin said.

Evangeline and Edmund looked at each other and suppressed a smile.

"It was right over…" Lucy said, and screamed as the ground beneath her gave way with a loud cracking sound.

"LUCY!" everyone cried in unison, running to where Lucy was standing before.

They all looked down and sighed in relief as the youngest was still safe and alive, smiling up at them from where she landed, onto the next level of rock. "Here," She finished.

Evangeline's pulse was rushing and she could feel Edmund's too. Wait… She could feel Edmund's pulse?

"Oh, it's ok, you could use my arm anytime you want when somebody else's life flashes before your eyes," said Edmund.

"You gripped onto mine too," she replied nonchalantly.

One of Edmund's eyebrows rose, "No, I was holding onto my sword handle."

Evangeline rolled her eyes in return, "Yeah, because that's all you know how to do in desperate situations."

Ed's eyes creased, "If that's what you want, my offer is still there…" He let go of her hand, but she still held on.

Evangeline returned his look and squeezed his arm tighter which made him groan, she faked a sweet smile, "Thanks, I'll keep it in mind, my king."

* * *

**A.N: Horrid, I know, but reviews do help speed up things a little :)**


	10. Master in English

**A.N: Here's chapter 10! I would like to dedicate this chapter to my dear friend, Rainbow. Yes, you know who you are. I will not use her real name because Rainbow sounds so much cooler. Without her persistance, I would have never gotten this chapter up, and hopefully, she'll keep on pushing me so I'd stop procrastinating. Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: Hell, I wish I did own Narnia, but I don't, so there.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 10 – Master in English**

"There's a carved out pathway here… I think it'll lead us down," Lucy said, calling up to them.

"Looks like we are crossing the River Rush after all, your majesty," Trumpkin said to Peter.

Peter sighed, "All that walking for nothing…"

Trumpkin jumped down the hole after Susan who was followed by Edmund and then Peter. Evangeline went last because she wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be in the way of anyone if she fell.

Peter rolled his eyes because he knew that she wasn't uncoordinated and falling wouldn't hurt her too much because of her gymnastics training.

"Oh dear…" Evangeline breathed as she looked down from where they were walking, holding onto the carved out walls of the rocks to balance themselves.

"What's wrong?" Susan asked her.

"Water… Rushing water…" She replied, her breath was still wispy.

"You can't swim?" Susan asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

Evangeline shook her head, she knew that Susan was the champion swimmer in her family, the girl might laugh at her if she really didn't know how to swim. But she did, so it didn't really matter. "No… I can, it's just that Narnian water is like a curse on me."

Susan laughed, "It's not cursed… You just haven't learned to like it yet. Water is just wonderful…"

"You should be a mermaid… Or a fish…"

"Definitely not a mermaid, that's for sure..." Susan craned her neck to look for something and her voice suddenly dropped to a whisper, "Don't mention mermaids anymore…"

"Why not?"

"Just don't… Peter doesn't like them. We were on the verge on warring against each other once… Bad memories…"

"Oh... Alright then... Wait, they're real?"

"Yes... Or used to, they might have perished like others when our reign ended."

"That's just wonderful... You were lucky to live in a world where fantasy is real..."

"Mmm... I love it all," Susan replied ruefully.

"Peter told me a lot about Narnia... I thought they were just stories and told him that he should be a novelist."

"He does make a great storyteller," Susan said, somewhat agreeing with her.

"I can't believe that I started to worry about him when he insisted that Narnia was real... I thought he was delirious."

Susan laughed, "It's good that you were worried, someone needs to look out for Peter more, seeing as he always looks out for us."

"I agree, though I think I'd put Peter into more danger if I did try to protect him,' Evangeline replied with a laugh. Susan joined in and giggled.

They soon reached the bottom of gorge and began to cross the river. Evangeline lost her footing a couple of times so she was soaked up to her knees. Water seeped through her boots and they started to squelch.

"I hate this…" she muttered to herself, shivering at the same time.

"Stop whining Ange, its just water!" Edmund called to her.

"I didn't say anything!" she shouted to him over the rushing of the water. _Did he really hear what I said before? He's got good hearing…_

"I could hear you complain, especially with all that breathing through your teeth."

"I'm shivering! I hate Narnian water!"

"Stop cursing my homeland. And stop thinking negative thoughts."

"Oh, so you're telepathic now?" she countered.

"No, it's just that your negative aura's radiating off your body like a fire."

Evangeline scoffed, "You believe in auras?"

"Yes, every living thing has one." Edmund replied smugly.

"You're driving me insane! Just shut up!" With that she kicked water into his face.

"Water Evangeline? The thing you hate is your only defence?"

"Well at least someone has another way apart from arguing to retaliate," Evangeline retorted, crossing her arms.

"Stop bickering you two!" Peter shouted.

"Yeah, you're giving other people headaches." Trumpkin added.

"Sorry." They apologised at the same time. They both looked at each other, Evangeline had a sheepish expression on her face, Edmund bit his bottom lip and glanced in another direction.

With a small sigh, they crossed the river and paused for a break on the banks. Evangeline, who was walking awkwardly to avoid making any squelching noises, settled on the side of the river and emptied water out from her boots.

"So maybe I did see Aslan after all, right?" Lucy asked, wanting Peter to admit that he was wrong.

"Just because we found a way across the river, it doesn't prove that Aslan was there…" Trumpkin replied.

"But still…" Lucy replied, drifting off. "Ugh, forget it. It takes too much effort to try to prove it, I know that I saw him, and that's that."

Peter said nothing and Evangeline watched as he drew his sword out and sat down, tapping it on the ground, only to get back up and pace around. He nodded his head to himself and sometimes shook it, as if debating on an argument playing in his head.

When he did decide on whatever it was that he was deciding, he nodded to himself and stopped his pacing, looking at their group who were all seated and drinking water.

"Ok, Ed, you're in charge of taking care of Evangeline."

"What?" both Evangeline and Edmund exclaimed in protest from their spot.

"No objections, I need your help with teaching her how to handle a sword..."

'Why can't Susan teach her how to use a bow?" Edmund whined.

"Because she can't teach Evangeline without a proper field and target," Peter replied, agitated.

"Now, I have to babysit" Edmund grumbled.

"I can take care of myself, Pete," Evangeline protested, anything but this, was this punishment for both of them for constantly bickering?

"No, not after you got attacked."

"But Lucy's the one who got attacked!" Evangeline shouted, standing up.

"Yes I know Evangeline, I was there. In England you can take care of yourself, no doubt about it. But back in England there isn't some wild mad man capable of lopping your head off when you're not looking is there?"

Evangeline was going to retort that there 'is no mad man' but was cut off, "I need you to learn how to defend yourself Su, DLF, Ed and I aren't always going to be there to protect you."

Great, Evangeline thought, so what they were thinking was that she was a thorn in their side, just something that was barraging their journey. Evangeline cast a glance at Lucy. What about her? Peter seemed to be protecting her most of the time. Maybe that's why he couldn't teach her and handed the job to Edmund.

"Besides, if you knew how to use a weapon properly, for example, your daggers which you had strapped to your back the _whole time_, you wouldn't have needed to use rocks to throw at the bears head. You could've thrown the daggers instead."

"Well they're awfully long to throw or be called daggers, Pete."

"Fine, they're long daggers or short swords, whatever you want to call them… Oh never mind… Basically, you need to rely on a weapon to protect yourself. Even Lucy relies on her dagger sometimes."

_Oh really now…_ Evangeline wanted to say and roll her eyes. _For some reason I kind of doubt that… Seeing as she didn't use her dagger to kill that bear and defend herself._ But this was Peter being mean, not Lucy. Lucy wouldn't inflict this much pain verbally.

She was incapable, yes, but she was willing to learn how to protect herself. She would be happy to learn something new. She had read about swordfights and famous battles recorded in books, even going as far as duelling tactics. She wanted to learn this new skill. She just wasn't sure about Edmund teaching her it. Not with Edmund because she knew that one minute they would be getting along fine, and the next they would be lunging at each other's throats.

"Just because you've been practising your swordsmanship for over fifteen years…" She muttered under her breath.

Evangeline considered Trumpkin to become her teacher, but remembered that it was Edmund who had overpowered him. She sighed in defeat.

"Alright… Only if Edmund's fine with it…"

"Ed?" Peter asked, waiting for his brother's answer.  
Edmund rolled his eyes, "I'll do it, only because it'll give me the chance to torture Evangeline."

"Someone save me already…" Evangeline murmured.

Peter sighed as he looked at his friend whose shoulders had slumped. His eyes softened, "I know you might not like it. But I need you to be safe… Ed's the second best teacher that can help keep you safe. Just… Help make your situation easier by listening to him."

Evangeline squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath, she exhaled and opened them again and sat crossed legged on the ground. She placed her head on her hands and sighed. There were knots forming in her stomach because she was scared of Edmund teaching her. What if he got annoyed with her and accidentally stabbed her? Well, he did say that he was going to torture her, so that could be a part of it… She saw what he did at the beach when they rescued Trumpkin. What if he couldn't control himself and overpowered her? There were so many possibilities with the extent of her safety.

Peter said that Edmund was going to help keep her safe, what if Edmund was going to put her in more danger?

As Peter walked past Edmund she heard her best friend mutter to Ed, "Be nice."

Edmund snickered, "As if…"

Evangeline groaned and buried her head in her hands.

"Hey Dolly Daydream," Edmund called out.

"What?" Evangeline asked, unmoved from her spot.

"Well, c'mon, it's about time that you got started."

When Evangeline didn't move, Edmund sighed.

"Alright then, if you aren't going to help your situation get any easier, I will drag you across the ground."

Evangeline shrugged.

"I will drag you across the ground, throw your boots in the water… Throw your bag in the water, so say goodbye to all of your paints."

Evangeline looked up from her hands and gasped, "No you wouldn't."

"I would," Edmund replied with a smirk, "I'd also throw your boots in the water."

"They're wet already," she replied, indifferent.

"And…" Edmund continued, "I'll throw you in the water after I drag you across the muddied ground."

"You can't, I'm not that light," Evangeline replied.

"Do you really want me to try testing out my strength?" Edmund asked.

Evangeline jumped up and shook her head quickly, "Fine, I'm up! I'm up!"

"Good," came his reply.

Susan and Lucy laughed and Peter hushed them up, though an amused smile played on his face. This was certainly an entertaining break from walking.

"So… Tell me one thing you're good at…" Edmund said, pacing around her, as if he could assess her while she was just standing still.

"I don't know… Reading? Drawing? Come on Edmund, I've never fought anyone before."

"Well, you are good at throwing things, seeing what you did to that bear…" He mused, throwing a punch at her.

Evangeline started and dodged to the side, "What was that for?" she yelled.

"At least you have good reflexes…" He said, still pacing around her.

She was thankful when he stopped his pacing because she was getting dizzy.

Edmund made a motion with his hand that told her that he wanted her to take out her dagger or sword. She still didn't really know what it was classified as anymore, but took one out nonetheless.

"Good… good…" Edmund muttered, "At least you have the correct gripping… Alright, now give your sword a swing."

She made sure that Edmund was a good few feet away before she swung it across. It whistled as it cut through the air. The blade felt comfortable in her hand, so she was sure that it was good enough for her.

"Not bad…"

Edmund took out his own sword and showed Evangeline the basic movements to sword fighting. Parrying, slashing, and striking… the works.

She followed him a little hesitantly at first, but when she got used to it, her movements felt much smoother.

He then showed her the correct stance when fighting, where both of your feet have to be placed parallel to your shoulders.

"If you feet are too close together, you can lose you balance more easily," he said.

Evangeline's arms soon started to scream in protest, but she tried to keep up with Edmund's instructions. Even though he was patient, she didn't want to look foolish in front of him by failing to perform a simple instruction.

Edmund was an acceptable teacher, even though Evangeline would've preferred Peter to teach her how to handle a sword. Whether she liked it or not, Edmund was now her Sensei in Japanese, her Si Fu in Chinese, her Maître in French, her Usta in Turkish, her Master in English.

Peter soon told them that they had to keep on moving. Edmund taught her how to put back her sword into its scabbard, since it was on her back and that she couldn't see it.

"I guess that first lesson wasn't so bad then…" she commented.

"First lesson?" Edmund asked with a snort, "We haven't even started yet."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. We only did a bit so that you could reserve your energy for walking."

"How thoughtful of you."

"Tonight when we set up camp… That's when the real training is going to start."

Evangeline bit back a groan.


	11. A bedtime story

**A.N: Here's the next chapter! Once more we have to thank Rainbow for her constant prodding. :)**

**Disclaimer: Narnia, *sniffles* does not belong to me.**

* * *

**Chapter 11 - A bedtime story**

It was past nightfall when the group decided to stop and set up camp. After helping collect firewood, Evangeline slumped down on a log, watching the fire flicker and set ablaze. She had never felt so tired or weary before. Her bones seemed to ache from the inside and seep out into her muscles. _A nice warm hot bath would be delightful right now… _She thought as her eyelids started to feel heavier and began to close.

"Well, c'mon, it's about time that you got started."

Evangeline, who was about to doze off started. "Excuse me?"

Edmund sighed, tired of attempting to get Evangeline to train, "Your training, Evangeline, with swords, remember?"

"Can't we do this another time? We've been hiking in the forest for hours, aren't you tired too?"

"No, I've been trained to recover and conserve as much energy as I could, c'mon Ange, get up."

Evangeline sighed, "Oh alright." If she made it easier for Edmund, she'd learn more and then Peter wouldn't have to worry one bit about her safety.

Edmund looked a little shocked that she was willing to train, but felt a little more enthusiastic because he would be teaching someone who wanted to learn.

"I'm really tired though, so don't expect me to have good reflexes."

Edmund smirked, "I'm not really expecting anything…"

"Brilliant."

On that note, Edmund lunged at her. She yelled out in shock and dodged because she didn't even have a weapon in her hand. As she dodged to the side, she reached behind her head and pulled out both of the short swords, gripping them in both of her hands.

"Your reflexes are perfectly fine." Edmund said, almost in a sing-song voice.

Edmund advanced and slashed at her sides. Not really knowing what to do, she blocked them in reflex, metal and metal clashed, making that shhhhhhhhhhing noise.

"Pull your arms in, bend your knees." She heard Edmund instruct. Evangeline nodded mentally and tried her best to block his blows. He wasn't really being gentle on her for her first little duel ever. They circled for a little bit, Evangeline was trying to anticipate his next move and could tell that he was toying with her as his lips twitched into a small smile. Edmund thrust his sword towards her. She dodged and as the sword in her left hand collided with his. As soon as it had happened, Edmund pulled back and hit the side of his blade on her rib. She yelped in pain and stumbled to the side.

"Come on, attack Evangeline!" She heard Susan yell on the sidelines.

She took Susan's advice and began to advance forward, slashing awkwardly at Edmund. He was too quick and saw her movement even before she had carried it out. He parried and twisted his blade, slapping her on the thigh. His eyes glinted in excitement.

"Move your feet, never stay in one spot."

She ducked as Edmund's sword sailed over her head.

"Are you sure this really is a good idea? Shouldn't we practice with sticks first?"

"No," Edmund replied, "The real thing is always better, it prepares you."

Evangeline nodded though a small voice at the back of her brain told her that there was more of a risk that she was going to get injured. She shook it away and gritted her teeth together, hissing in pain whenever Edmund's sword slapped her on the arms.

"Block it, raise your arms a little higher, Ange."

The pair exchanged a few more blows, the clanging of swords resounding through the woods. Evangeline's arms felt like they were turning into metal. She felt like she was getting nowhere, just that she's getting beaten up by Edmund.

"Come on Evangeline, you can do it!" Peter yelled in encouragement.

She took a sharp intake of air and lunged for his head, he blocked it smoothly and blocked it again as she twisted her hand back and took a shot at his stomach while his arm was still up.

"Never think about your two swords like two separate weapons, they're twins, they move fluidly with each other. Try using both of your blades at the same time, instead of one at a time."

Evangeline dodged a slash to the head and knelt down on one knee, bringing both of the swords out for a front slash. Edmund blocked it easily and Evangeline stood back up, parrying with her left hand while striking at him with her right. Edmund dodged her strike and grated his sword against hers until the quillon of both their blades locked together. With a twist of his hand, he dislodged the blade and sent it flying out of her left hand.

Evangeline's temper flared, annoyed that a weapon that could help her from getting harmed was gone. "I've had enough," she said, breathing heavily.

Edmund paused, "We aren't exactly done."

"Not we, I… I'm done."

"I'm your teacher, I'm supposed to call the shots."

Evangeline's eyes narrowed, without thinking, she threw the remaining blade from her hand at Edmund. Even though he was caught off guard, he parried the spinning blade effortlessly and it lodged itself in a tree trunk.

"I'm weaponless, you can't fight me now," she said. She bent down and placed her hands on her knees, huffing in exhaustion.

Edmund sighed, the bright glint in his eyes disappeared, "I guess you have your limits… You did well on your first try."

"I didn't get killed, that's all that matters." She flashed a quick and relieved grin at him and walked to where one of her swords had lodged itself in a tree trunk. Edmund was letting her go pretty easily and she hadn't expected him to, she expected him to drag her back, kicking and screaming to try to train her to fight. Evangeline pulled as hard as she could onto the sword but it didn't budge. It was buried in pretty deep and she felt like she was one of the many knights in King Arthur, trying to pull Excalibur from its stone.

"What the hell did you do, Edmund?" she grunted as she put a foot onto the base of the tree trunk, giving it more leverage to yank the sword out. She felt a hand on her arm and stopped, looking behind her.

"You're not doing it right," Edmund told her with an amused expression on his face. He gave her back the other twin sword, the one that wasn't lodged in the tree and brushed her gently aside, "The trick is to wriggle it free, not to pull on it."

After Edmund dislodged the sword from the tree trunk, he handed it back to Evangeline who in turn put her two twin swords back in its scabbard.

They sat down around the fire and joined the others for a meal which consisted of apples and roasted bears meat. Evangeline cringed as she received it, but she was starving so she crammed it into her mouth and tried not to think about where the meat came from. It tasted like any normal meat, but she couldn't get the image of the dying bear out of her head.

Peter and Edmund both asked for second servings and Evangeline resisted the urge to shudder. "Meat is meat…" she whispered to herself. She uncorked a water skin and drank deeply, quenching the thirst that had been building up from the duel she had with Edmund.

"I think I know the proper classification of your sword now, Evangeline," Lucy said, looking up from the roasted meat that she was picking at.

"What would that be then, Lu?" Peter asked for her.

"Since it's neither a sword or a dagger, we can call it… Swagger. Or… Dagword."

Susan snorted and laughed. "I don't think that really works, Lucy."

Evangeline grinned. "I think we'll just stick to calling it a long dagger."

"But… Peter and Edmund both named their swords…"

"You name your swords?"

Peter nodded, "Mine's called Rhindon," he said, drawing his sword out. The blade looked orange, but it was just reflecting the flickering lights coming from the fire.

"That's an interesting name for a sword… What about you Edmund?"

Edmund drew out his sword from its sheath. Like Peter's it was silver and glinted orange in the firelight, "This is the sword I used in the Battle of Beruna..."

He smiled fondly at the blade, admiring it as he tilted it this way and that, "Its name is Steve..."

Evangeline laughed and choked on the water she was drinking. She spat it onto the grass, and kept on giggling, even though water was going up and coming out of her nose.

She could hear Peter laugh along with the giggles coming from Susan and Lucy. Trumpkin actually smiled.

"What kind of name is that for a sword?" She managed to say after her fit.

"A very befitting one," Edmund said with a smirk.

She laughed, "I don't believe you."

"Then don't."

Evangeline shrugged, still smiling and took out her twin blades. "I'm not sure as to what I'll name mine…"

"Don't worry," Susan reassured her with a smile, "I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Did you name your bow, Susan?" Evangeline asked.

Susan shook her head, "I don't see a point in it, Lucy named her dagger though."

Lucy grinned and quickly unsheathed her dagger, her eyes glinting in excitement as she looked at it, "I call it Nasrin, it means wild rose."

"That's a lovely name." _The Pevensies all have killer instincts, even the youngest one. I should be scared.  
_

Evangeline finished eating her apple and slowly walked away from the camp, taking her time and relaxing as the smell of jasmine flowers wafted to her nose. She would usually go to sleep, but she found it difficult with the bright light of the fire flaring in her face. Her drowsiness had disappeared after the lesson with Edmund, all she could feel were an adrenaline rush and her heart pumping loudly.

She wanted to go back to sleep though, because she knew that tomorrow would be another long day of walking.

Evangeline felt a pair of eyes trained on her but kept on walking until she soon found a clearing in the expanse of trees. The grass was bathed in moonlight and it looked so inviting that Evangeline lay down on the ground and propped her arms behind her head. She looked at the bright stars that shone in the night sky, trying to steady her heartbeat by breathing in the scent of jasmine and soon her eyelids were almost closed.

"It's dangerous to be out here alone…" Edmunds voice said, breaking through her drowsiness.

"That hasn't stopped you from coming…"

"That's because I can defend myself."

Evangeline sighed looking at the stars, "Just leave me alone then, go back to your camp."

She felt Edmund sit down next to her, "It's Diameis…"

"What?"

"My sword's name's Diameis, not Steve."

"Well… That's a wonderful revelation. It's definitely a much better name than Steve, it matches it's owner… 'In one hand, Edmund wielded Steve as he cut down enemies before him', no, that doesn't sound right. 'In one hand, Edmund wielded Diameis as he cut down enemies before him'." Evangeline laughed as she pretended to narrate from a story, "Much better."

Edmund chuckled as he lay down next to her, following her gaze.

"The constellation you're looking at… They're called the Twins."

"You mean Gemini?"

"No, it's different here in Narnia. The twins had a name… Eresen and Thaulen. Want to hear the story?" Edmund asked.

"Mmhmm, please," Evangeline replied.

"It was said that long ago the two twins were born to a King of Narnia."

"Two princes? Oh boy, the trouble they must have caused."

"No," Edmund said, exaggerating on the O, his tone told her that he meant 'shut up and don't interrupt me' but in a more polite way. "Eresen was a prince, Thaulen, a princess. They were born within minutes of each other, after that they became inseparable. Everything Eresen did, Thaulen did too, fighting, horse riding, devising military plans. And vice versa, Eresen did everything his sister did, embroidering, dancing, learning mannerisms.

"On the battlefield, nothing could become between those two. Not only on the battlefield, but in serving the country and everything that came through to it. On their own, they were strong, but when they worked together they were invincible.

"One day, Thaulen was married off to an Archenlander prince to keep the peace between the two nations. Archenland is south from Narnia." Edmund said, informing her on Narnia's geography and continued, "She knew that she would miss her brother very much so they promised to write to each other every day if it were possible. The prince who was jealous of the love she had for her brother and not for him forbade her from writing anything. He killed her hawk, broke her quills and poured her ink out of its jars."

Evangeline gasped at this, "That's horrid."

"I know," Edmund replied gently, "Eresen knew that something was wrong with his sister, so he went on a trip to Archenland as a political visit just to check on her. He found that she was miserable and unhappy with her new life so he asked if he could take her back to Narnia for a holiday trip.

"The Archenlander prince consented, but after they left, he sent some spies after them because he knew that Thaulen wouldn't be coming back after she was gone with her brother. He told them that they were to kidnap Thaulen in the middle of the night and bring her back to him.

"However the spies were misinformed and thought that they were supposed to murder her instead. When Eresen and Thaulen stopped for the night they attacked… That night the moon wasn't showing, so they were sneaked up upon.

The twins died trying to protect each other…"

There was a pause as both Evangeline and Edmund absorbed the story into their minds, Evangeline was imagining the bloody battle that had happened, and Edmund was rethinking about the whole story again, and what had happened next.

"Aslan placed the two in the sky, different as two halves, but were one whole, incomplete without the other. Because they're only spaced apart by only a little, they're the brightest stars in the sky. So if the moon decides to hide her face, the twins Eresen and Thaulen would shed some light to those who are blinded by the dark."

Evangeline was silent for a while and Edmund thought she had fallen asleep until she whispered, "That's a sad story."

"I know," came Edmund's gentle reply. "It just shows that love isn't just a feeling, it's a bond. As long as you know you're loved, you're never truly alone…"

"You're a great storyteller."

"… Thank you."

"Ed… Have you ever felt alone?"

"Sometimes…"

"But you are loved, by your brother, your sisters, and your family. Me…" Evangeline drifted off drowsily.

"A declaration of love already, Evangeline?" Edmund asked with a laugh.

She shook her head in reply and blushed when she realised what she was saying. "Not love like the romantic type. I care about you."

Edmund chuckled, "That was evident in the way you kicked water at me."

"You annoyed me, it's too tempting to not kick water into your face."

Edmund smiled, "I'm not usually this patronising."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"I'm not, it's just my way of looking out for you."

"By constantly arguing with me?"

"It makes you more aware of what you're doing."

"Sure…" Evangeline resumed looking at the stars.

Edmund sighed, "I'm sorry for being an ass earlier..."

Evangeline scoffed, "You don't have to apologise, I already know that you are one." She turned her head to meet his serious face and grinned, "I'm only joking."

A small smile crept to his face as she squeezed his hand. For once Evangeline felt comfortable with Edmund, and her feelings were not of irritation or disdain. She couldn't describe that sudden strange feeling that she felt as they looked at each other. There was this bubbling elation inside of her and she felt this pull, like some sort of attraction to him, a crush was it called? But whatever she was feeling, she'd have to bury it deep within her. Edmund was Peter's brother for god's sake. She couldn't just start crushing on him.

Why was he being so nice to her? If he wasn't being nice, then she wouldn't be feeling this would she?

"Strange… That constellation looks familiar…" She pointed up to the sky at the stars that seemed to take the shape of a mermaid.

"Oh… That's Aurelia the mermaid…" Edmund drifted off for a bit as he debated on whether or not he should tell her story to Evangeline. She might scoff at how pathetic it was, the mermaid's love story. "Peter was in love with her back then in the Golden Age…"

"WHAT?" Evangeline exclaimed, sending birds flying out of their nests in panic.

"Hush, Evangeline. It's late, the story could wait for tomorrow."

"No no, it's fine, do tell." Evangeline started but was interrupted by a yawn.

"Tomorrow it is then… Get some sleep, we're probably getting up at sunrise."

The girl beside him yawned again and closed her eyes, nodding off to sleep.

_Stop being so mean to her, Ed,_ Susan's voice rang through his head, _give her a chance to prove herself and you might find that you could actually like her, remember, you were worse than she is when you just came to Narnia. Help her adjust, don't make more difficult for her._

_Susan's so bloody reprimanding_, Edmund thought. Before they set up camp, his older sister had dragged him to the side to basically tell him off. The full force of his betrayal from their first arrival in Narnia hit him when Susan mentioned it, it wasn't something that he liked remembering. But as always, Susan was right. He did like her, just a little more than he did yesterday.

He watched as her expression softened, and realised that she was actually quite pretty. He cursed himself for being blind and for never noticing her as much as the other girls from St Finbars.

Now that he thought about it, most of the girls that he knew there where nothing like Evangeline. They were so easy to flirt with, not like he did that too much, and none ever put up a fight. He never knew what it was like to argue with the fire like the one Evangeline has. He enjoyed the change from girls who seemed to try to catch his attention whenever he walked past, for a combat of wit and constant teasing which made everything all the more entertaining and made him… more attracted to her.

Edmund would usually sleep early, but now that he was in Narnia, his mind was still up and fully alert. It would take some time for him to try and sleep. He knew Evangeline was in a deep sleep as her breathing had become laboured. Before he could stop himself, he brushed a lock of black hair out of her face like he had earlier in the day. He was glad that she didn't respond or wake up. It would have been strange for him to have Evangeline catch himself staring at her.

Evangeline shivered and curled onto her side, which brought her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and saw outlines of his siblings moving around the fire. A blush rose to his cheeks when he thought about the possibility of Evangeline waking up again. Why was he blushing? There was no harm in shielding a friend from the cold, right?

He placed his forhead onto hers and stayed like that for a while, looking at her and memorising her face. From her river black hair to her pale skin to match an angular face with slightly raised cheekbones. Green eyes that were now closed with curved lashes to a nick of a scar on her right cheek. He knew that he could've stayed like that forever, even though he wouln't want to build anymore of his sudden, not hate, but a little crush-type of feelings for Evangeline.

She was Peter's friend, she should be off limits.

He shook the thoughts that were forming in his head when he decided on going back to camp. As quietly as he could, he got up and scooped Evangeline into his arms, doing his best to not wake her. He smiled to himself when she leant her head onto his chest.

"Hmm, Evangeline's asleep already?" Peter mused when Edmund had come back.

Edmund grinned as he looked down at the sleeping figure in his arms, "I told her a bedtime story and she went out like a candle."

Peter chuckled in reply as he spread out his roll, he did the same for Evangeline's roll and Edmund placed her on the ground close to the fire. He gently removed the sword scabbards from her back and the belt at her waist that would make her sleep uncomfortable.

He sat next to her while she slumbered on, oblivious to Edmund's presence. He pushed away some strands of hair from her forehead with his fingers gently brushing her cheek.

Peter caught him in the act and raised his eyebrows, but he didn't question anything because he knew that his younger brother was either in denial or oblivious to his uncontrolled affection for Evangeline. Lucy, who was checking through things in her own pack looked up and murmured, "Oh I see…"

This snapped Edmund out of his reverie and he removed his hand, looking at Lucy. "There is nothing to see, Lu."

"A-huh…" came her reply, her tone unconvinced.

Edmund shook his head and prepared his own roll, lying down on it and staring across the fire at Evangeline. He soon drifted off to sleep with her form in his eyesight.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

The snap of a twig and a constant shaking from her shoulders broke through Evangeline's peaceful slumber. Pain shot from her arms from where she had accumulated bruises from the training session she had with Edmund last night.

"Mmph…" she managed to say groggily before an urgent voice registered into her head.

"Evangeline, wake up. C'mon Ange… Wake up." Her heart suddenly beat faster than usual, but she ignored it, whose voice would make her heart beat faster anyway? With an inward blush, she realised that it was Edmund's voice and all she wanted to do was roll onto her side and go back to sleep, resisting the urge to open her eyes and absorbing every little detail of him. What was the rush anyway? she thought, giving herself another reason to not open her eyes. They were just hiking again today.

"Is the girl awake yet?" she heard Trumpkin say.

"No, I'm trying but she's so stubborn in the morning…" Edmund replied.

"Hmmph, aren't you all?"

"Ange, you better hear this because Lucy and Peter are missing," Edmund continued with that urgent ring in his tone.

"What?" She jolted, her head colliding with Edmund's. More pain ran through her body.

"Argh… 'No good morning, Edmund' or 'Thanks for waking me up, Edmund'? Just a big painful bruise to thank me?" Edmund asked, wincing as he rubbed his forehead.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" she apologised, rubbing her own forehead, wincing like him. "Peter and Lucy are missing?"

"Yeah, they're not in the camp area, but as long as Lucy is with Peter, I think they'll be safe… Peter isn't one who would usually leave like this without giving us a message or waking us up. Susan's in a panic state."

"We'd better find them then…" Evangeline muttered, Susan panicking was something that she wouldn't ever want to experience.

Edmund stood up from his kneeling position, offering his hand out to her. She accepted and looked at him as he pulled her up. He must have been awake for only three minutes earlier than her. His hair was a mess and his sword belt wasn't even strapped on.

She hissed in pain when she tried to walk, "I hurt… all over… It's your entire fault, Ed."

Edmund smiled, holding an arm out to support her, "It's becoming of you."

"Nice bed hair," she complimented with a pained grin as she looked at his face. Edmund tried his best to brush it into place with his fingers and grinned back at her. "Yours isn't too bad either."

Susan looked at Edmund and Evangeline. She frowned at them while she tapped her foot, agitated. "Hurry up… We need to find Peter and Lucy. Stop flirting with each other and get moving."

The said pair were caught off guard and stood still in shock for a moment, not daring to look at each other. Evangeline gulped down a gob of saliva that was built in her throat. When their logic snapped back into place, they joined the panicking Susan and the waiting Trumpkin, all running off in search of their missing companions.

"What's she talking about?" Evangeline asked Edmund, flushing.

He shrugged his shoulders as colour rose to his cheeks, "I have no idea..." he replied, dragging her by the arm.

* * *

**A.N: Voyage of the Dawn Treader is coming out in 3 days! SQUEEEEEEEE!**


	12. SQUEE TIME!

**2.12.2010; 12.00 AM:**

**If there are any readers from Australia, it's time to all SQUEE!**

**Why?**

**BECAUSE NARNIA, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER IS FRIKKEN OUT IN CINEMAS, LIKE, RIGHT NOW!**

***SQUEEES!* & *dies***

**ROFL, sorry if anyone thought this was another chapter, I just had to simply post this up because I couldn't contain my excitement!**

**SQUEEE!**

**Next chapter will be up soon XD**

**Love, Wyngana**


	13. Prince Caspian the Tenth

**A.N: Thanks for all of your reviews, favourites and adds to your alerts. I'm really happy with it all and I'm squeeing every time I get an alert in my email. :D**

**I forgot to add the ages of the characters in the past 11 chapters, so here they are from oldest to youngest:**

**Peter: 18**

**Caspian: 18**

**Susan: 17**

**Edmund: 15**

**Evangeline: 15**

**Lucy: 13**

**Disclaimer: No, no, and… no. Narnia does not belong to me.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 12 – Prince Caspian the Tenth**

"Peter!" Susan barked, all at once sounding like a mother while chiding him with his name.

They had run when they heard the clashing of swords against each other, along with the low growls and a shriek of 'STOP!' which they had recognised as Lucy's voice.

Susan had rounded a corner with Edmund, Evangeline and Trumpkin in tow, when all of a sudden she stopped, finally calming down a little when she saw that her brother was almost unharmed.

In front of them stood Peter and another boy who looked like he was around Peter's age. He was a tall looking knight with wavy brown hair, dark brown eyes, a slightly crooked nose and a bum chin. He wore a white blouse accompanied with a light piece of navy armour. Brown leather boots adorned his feet and were worn with pants that were embroidered at the side seams. A sword belt that was missing a sword was strapped around his hip, completing his outfit. The knight looked… exotically handsome. A flash of confusion crossed his face as he looked at Peter.

"Prince Caspian?" Peter asked in a strained voice. The prince nodded. There was a cut on his face, which was probably of Peter's doing. Prince Caspian looked at the sword, then back at the owner with a slight raise of his eyebrows.

"High King Peter?" he asked, his accent was laced with a Mediterranean tongue as he rolled his Rs.

Peter almost smiled, "I believe you called."

"I… thought you'd be older…" Caspian replied, looking up and down at Peter, looking a little shocked and disappointed about Peter's youth. He definitely wasn't expecting a fellow teen to help him defeat armies.

Peter's smile vanished as he turned to walk away, "Well, if you like, we could come back in a few years."

"No! You're alright, it's just… you're not exactly what I expected…" the prince replied, looking around at their group who were the only other humans there. He locked eyes with Susan who smiled and looked down.

"Neither are you." Edmund replied awkwardly, he had seen the exchange between Susan and Caspian and almost rolled his eyes as he remembered how many boys would ask him to pass love letters onto Susan. He had made a business out of that, a shilling for a letter. Maybe it would be the same for Caspian… But they were flirting already? It hasn't even been five minutes!

Edmund's eyes flitted warily towards a Minotaur that had an axe in his hand. The Minotaur grunted his greeting, but Edmund still felt a little nervous. He looked a lot like the General Otmin who had lead Jadis' army, but then again, all Minotaurs look the same. Evangeline must have noticed the giant beast because she moved closer to him and clung onto his shirt sleeve, which made him feel all the more protective of her.

"A common enemy unites even the oldest of foes," A badger said. Evangeline's mouth literally dropped in surprise.

"What are those creatures?" she asked, her fright made her whisper rapidly.

"They're Narnians…" Edmund replied just as quietly.

"Aren't Narnians people? Like dwarfs?"

"We are assorted, my lady," the badger said, he must have had keen hearing to hear what she had whispered to Edmund.

"Oh... Sorry," she apologised, still trying to recover from light shock. However, she was quite flattered when the badger said, 'my lady.'

"Don't worry, Ange, they won't hurt us… Or at least I hope they won't," Edmund murmured quietly back to her.

"And you'll protect me if they do?" she asked, looking timidly at the assorted creatures around her.

"Of course I will," he said without hesitation, placing the hand that wasn't gripped by Evangeline onto hers. She calmed a little by his touch and felt a small blush rise to her cheeks when he said that he'll protect her.

"We have anxiously waited for your return, my liege. Our hearts and swords are at your service," said a formal voice at their feet. Evangeline looked down to see a mouse that was about one foot tall with a red feather adjoined to a ring on his ear. In one hand, he held a sword that looked about five inches, even though it was sharp and shiny. He also wore a little leather band that was his sword belt, strapped around his tiny shoulders. Peter smiled.

"Oh my gosh… He's so cute," Lucy whispered to Susan.

Evangeline agreed silently and beamed when the mouse got offended. He brandished his sword after he insisted that they'd describe him as, "Courageous, courteous and chivalrous to befit a knight of Narnia."

Reepicheep, as he later introduced himself, told Peter that they had secured weapons for his army.

There was going to be a war here? Evangeline thought. There have been enough wars at home, from where we've come from. Surely we don't need to get caught in another one...

The Pevensies seemed unfazed by the idea that they were going to fight, but Evangeline felt queasy. War was messy, you could never trust anybody, and if you couldn't trust anyone, then your side wouldn't win, which would then result in captivity or mass murdering.

Thoughts quickly buzzed in and out of Evangeline's head from the hundreds of books that she had read. Battle tactics, what King did what, who started the wars, what the rules of war were. One thought led to another, she thought that she might die, that everyone else might die, that they might get tortured for information, that-.

"Evangeline." Edmund's voice broke through her thoughts. She started and looked at him, eyes wide. "You're killing my arm." He gave her a questioning glance, as if enquiring what was going on through her head. His lips were pressed together, but his wide brown eyes told her that whatever she was panicking about, he'd be there to help.

"Oh… sorry…" she mumbled, letting loose of the hand that was tightly gripping his arm in her panic. She gave a slight shake of her head. Whatever happened last night had Evangeline unwillingly trust Edmund, she wanted to confide in him, but was scared that he might tease and tell her that she was overreacting. Peter wouldn't do that though, she was positive. War wasn't a laughing matter, it was much too serious.

"Look at Peter and Caspian," Edmund said, unamused, "they're already sizing each other up."

Evangeline turned her head to look at her best friend and his new 'friend', who were narrowing their eyes at each other as the prince handed back Peter's sword. Ooh, tension.

"That's not good… If both fight for a place as leader, I'm electing you," Evangeline murmured.

Edmund looked slightly taken aback, but was flattered, "How are you sure that it would happen?"

"Common sense," she replied with a shrug. "Did you see Caspian and Susan looking at each other?"

"Yes," Edmund sighed heavily through his nose, however his eyes lighted up and Evangeline wondered what idea he had in his mind this time. "Let's tease her."

"That would be mean."

"No, it's all in good fun, we do it all the time with every time a boy goes googly-eyed over her."

"I'm sure that's often..."

Lucy came and sidled over to Edmund and Evangeline, "Planning to tease Su later, Ed?"

Edmund smiled, "You're very skilled in telepathy, aren't you Lucy?"

"You have trained me well." Lucy grinned, "I saw that look of yours, and everyone in our family can tell what you're up to. I'll help. It's going to be way too fun to resist."

"I never knew you were this evil, Lucy," Evangeline said with a smile.

"Oh you have no idea, I just hope that this wouldn't be as bad as when we teased her about that boy, Steven."

"You mean Steven Friar?" Evangeline asked, she remembered that he was the boy who bumped into her and Peter and promptly got bashed, while they were waiting at the train station. That all seemed like a year ago.

"Yes, he _admired_ Susan but Peter and him, well, you saw, they didn't get along too well. So when Ed came back waving some giant love-heart of a letter, Peter became over-protective and was furious that Steven even fancied our sister… That's why they get into so many fights," Lucy explained.

"I'm still not sure whether Steven actually did like Susan, or whether he just did that to upset Peter," Edmund interjected.

"Either way," Lucy continued with a shrug, "I just hope that Peter doesn't go around fighting Caspian."

"We haven't even confirmed that Susan even fancies Caspian." Evangeline pointed out.

Edmund shrugged, mimicking Lucy's action. He grinned cheekily, "A look is enough confirmation for me."

The trio stood there, waiting for orders as to where to go next. They were brought to Caspian's attention.

"Why are there five of you?" he asked, motioning at the Londoners.

"Why can't there be five?" Evangeline countered with a question of her own.

"Because…" Caspian faltered, "It's not part of the legend."

Evangeline raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Well, I'm an additional, untold piece to the legend then."

Caspian smiled, "Welcome, then, additional piece."

"My name is Evangeline Rosslyn," she replied with a smile, offering her hand out for a handshake.

A flash of confusion crossed Caspian's face, not sure as to why she had offered out her hand, instead of shaking it, he took it and kissed her knuckle, as he was taught to do as courtesy, "You're not a Pevensie? It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady. I am Prince Caspian, the tenth."

Evangeline was caught by surprise as not many people did that anymore, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Prince Caspian," she replied, curtsying awkwardly.

She glanced at Edmund, the happy glint in his eyes had disappeared and she wondered what was wrong.

"What's wrong, Edmund?" she asked, walking back to him.

Edmund looked at his feet then back at her, "Caspian's older than me…"

Evangeline was sure that Caspian's age wasn't the reason of Edmund's sudden unhappiness, but she brushed it aside, "So he is… that means that I won the bet!" she crowed, receiving queer glances from the others, "You owe me two shillings, Ed."

Edmund's smile returned, "No problems there then."

"Interest rates rise by fifty per cent daily if you do not pay up," Evangeline told him, continuing in the serious tone of a banker. She was only joking though, because she knew that Edmund had absolutely no money on him.

"W-what?" Edmund stammered, "That wasn't part of the original deal, Ange…"

"It is now," she said, grinning, "I won the bet."

Edmund sighed and shook his head.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

The looks that Peter gave Caspian were enough to make Evangeline uncomfortable, even though they weren't directed at her.

"Peter, will you stop it?"

"Stop what?" he asked, directing his attention ahead, not looking at her as they walked through the forest. Prince Caspian had told them that they had made the Narnian base somewhere in a cavern of some sort, and now they were making their way towards it. Evangeline had a feeling that it would be at least an hour on foot to get there.

"Aww, c'mon Pete, don't be so sour."

Peter said nothing. Evangeline sighed. "So, what do you think will happen?"

"I don't know…" Peter replied with a shrug, "I just hope that they have enough weapons to supply the whole army."

"I'm sure they have enough weapons, look at the centaur," she said, pointing at the dark horse man that was carrying piles of swords on his back.

"That's Glenstorm," Peter told her.

She nodded, "The question is, will there be enough men to fight against the Telmarines?"

"I sure hope so, though Orieus told me once that numbers don't win a war. Orieus was a centaur that trained Edmund and I in combat," Peter added as an afterthought for Evangeline's sake.

"No, but they sure do help…" Evangeline replied.

Peter laughed, "That's what I said!"

Evangeline smiled. At least she took Peter's mind off Caspian for a while.

"Peter, what do you think would happen if we… didn't come back?" she asked, replacing the words 'got killed' in the nicest form.

"I'm not sure…" Peter said, turning serious. "I just hope that Aslan gives us a second chance in our world…"

They both drifted into a dismal silence, which Evangeline broke by thinking of another topic to talk about. She looped an arm through Peter's as they walked. "Tell me the truth Peter, why _did_ you get Edmund to train me in sword fighting?"

"Because he's a good teacher," Peter replied with a small smile.

"That's not really a good reason. Why else?"

"Because you two are the same age…"

She gave him an exasperated look, "Like that really matters, your brother is battering me."

"But you don't mind it do you?" Peter teased.

Evangeline rolled his eyes at him, "Really Peter, I know that you could train me, it's just that you want Edmund to do it. Since when have you become lazy?"

Peter chuckled, "I'm not lazy! Fine, it's because Edmund hardly talks to any girls."

"He talks to Susan and Lucy…"

"No, really Evangeline?" Peter replied sarcastically, "I mean girls outside of our family, he's very shut off from them, thinks that they're…"

"Let me guess, pathetic and they giggle too much?"

"Exactly."

"But he's being so biased! Not _all_ girls are like that, we're smart."

"And now who's being biased, Evangeline? Not _all_ girls are smart. Besides, ever since coming back to England, Edmund's been a very solitary person, he needs to socialise. And now that we're in Narnia, it's a perfect opportunity for him to meet new people."

"I'm not new, I'm old. Edmund and I have known each other for years."

Peter sighed, "But you two have never really talked to each other."

"Yeah we do, we say Hi. And we talked yesterday."

Peter rolled his blue eyes, "I mean have a long conversation that goes on for over an hour."

"Oh. I guess not then," she muttered in defeat.

"It seems that you two are getting along well anyway, with what happened last night…"

"What happened last night?" Evangeline asked, eyes widening in alarm.

"Don't pretend you don't know. You fell asleep in his _arms_. Susan also told me that earlier this morning you two were _flirting_," he said, putting further emphasis on the last word of both sentences.

"We were not!" she said indignantly, slapping Peter on the arm. A deep blush rose to her cheeks and she tried to hide it by facing in the other direction.

Peter looked at her with a grin on his face, "You were! I saw, the 'will you protect me?' bit. It was very sweet of Edmund to say that he will. Don't worry, you have my approval."

"What? But we're not, anything- We don't even like each other!" she blurted hurriedly.

"I don't care whether you do or don't, you have my approval," Peter's smiled slyly, his words were a finality.

Evangeline ran out of words to say.

"Aha, there it is Evangeline, I have known you for years and you have never once run out of comebacks. Cat got your tongue? Something must be seriously wrong, hmm, my brother perhaps?" Peter said smugly.

Evangeline pulled away from him, "THERE'S NOTHING HAPPENING BETWEEN US!" she screeched, earning looks from others.

Peter laughed and dragged her back to him by the arm, looping hers through his again. "Geez Ange, relax. I'm only teasing you. But I know that something would happen between you two someday."

"Yeah, like me stabbing him with a sword." Peter laughed at Evangeline's hysterics. "Shut up, don't you have battle plans to revise?"

"While we're walking? Uh, let me check. No."

"Look, Edmund's nice, and he's just a friend."

"For now," Peter grinned cheekily. She could tell where Edmund got his cheeky grin from.

"Don't make me stab you," she replied darkly.

Peter put his hands in the air in defeat, "Fine, fine. Have you come up with a name for your twin swords?"

"I was thinking Eresen and Thaulen, because even with the luck symbol on the swords, I'm doomed to die…"

"How do you know about that story?"

"Edmund…" she mumbled.

"What's that?" Peter asked, feigning deafness.

"I said, Edmund told me the story last night. And as you put it, I 'fell asleep in his arms'."

"So you admit that you did!"

"No I didn't!" she denied, blushing again, thumping Peter on the arm twice. One was for teasing her so much and the other was for making her blush.

"You're still blushing, my dear."

"Shut up."

Peter laughed. "You're like a sister to me, Ange, if Susan we're in the same situation, I'd be teasing her like no tomorrow."

"Does that mean that you'll help us tease her about Caspian?"

"What about Caspian?" Peter asked, his light-heartedness suddenly disappearing.

Oops, wrong move. "Oh nothing, don't worry about it, you know what? I think I see… umm, Edmund calling for me." Edmund wasn't, but Evangeline thought it was really the time to get going otherwise Peter would - quote Lucy, 'go around fighting Caspian'.

Peter raised a suspicious eyebrow at her.

"Yes, Peter, Edmund's calling for me. Just keep those happy fantasies of yours replaying in your head. That, uh, Edmund and I can get married or something, and then I'd really be your sister," she finished hurriedly, walking off to hide behind a Centaurs' rump.

"Oh idiot," she whispered to herself as she heard Peter's laugh ringing through the trees and replayed what she had just said to him, "someone dig me a grave…"

"What are you doing, Evangeline?" An unfamiliar and foreign voice asked.

Evangeline jumped, whirling around to see Caspian.

"I'm hiding from Peter… He's been teasing me without mercy…" she explained.

"Oh, I see. You and King Peter seem to act like siblings, is it the same for King Edmund?" The prince asked.

Evangeline choked on her own saliva. "Edmund and I? No, there's nothing going on between us, nothing at all," she said all a little too hurriedly.

Caspian narrowed his eyes in confusion, "I didn't say that there was…"

"Good, because Peter thinks that I fancy Edmund."

"Do you?"

"Please don't get started, I don't."

"Oh alright then…" Caspian replied. They drifted off into an awkward silence.

"Not to be rude, Prince Caspian, but can I ask you a question?" Evangeline asked.

The prince gave an easy smile, "Just call me Caspian, and of course," he replied airily.

"Your accent seems strangely familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. Is there another language that you speak apart from our common-tongue?"

Caspian nodded, "My tutors have taught me to speak the common-tongue, but my father thought that it was always important to speak the language from our descendants, Telmarine."

"Telmarine's your language? I haven't heard of it before…"

"Maybe not in your world, but that's what it's called here."

"Can I hear a bit of it?"

"Sure… Hmm, what should I say?"

"How about, 'Hello, my name is Caspian, how are you'?"

"_Hola, __mi nombre es Caspian, cómo estás?"_

"_Estoy bien gracias_…" Evangeline muttered absently in reply, her Spanish lessons and recitals kicking in. "Oh my god! Caspian, you speak Spanish!"

"No… I speak Telmarine…" Caspian replied, confused. "But you can speak it too, how? I thought that the language only existed in this world!"

"I had lessons on your language. It doesn't matter what it's called. This is great Caspian!"

Both Evangeline and Caspian were enthusiastic about having something in common and started speaking in Telmarine (as Caspian insisted on calling) quickly. She soon learnt that there were a few errors in her conjunctions and plurals.

"Peter é un burro," _Peter is a donkey._ Evangeline muttered darkly, eyeing Peter in annoyance. He was walking ahead, whispering something to Edmund who then laughed. He probably told his brother about her blurting out that Edmund and she can get married.

Caspian laughed and clapped her on the back. Clapping on the back, as Evangeline had recently discovered was equivalent to a hi-five. Only that it hurt more and made you cough.

"So you're Prince Caspian, the tenth? I swear when I first heard it, I thought that they said Capsicum."

Caspian laughed, screwing up his face, "I don't like capsicums, but yes, I'm the tenth Capsi- Caspian," he said, stumbling on his words.

"I don't like caspians, I mean, capsicums either," Evangeline corrected herself, grinning sheepishly. "Isn't that a little strange though? Having your grandfather and great grandfather named Caspian, then having yourself named Caspian, and then your son named Caspian?"

The prince grinned, "Yes, it does get a little confusing..."

"Not to mention boring."

Caspian laughed, "My name isn't that bad."

"No no, your name is perfect, even if it does sound like capsicums, it just that... you're the tenth Caspian, have the Telmarines no imagination?"

"I guess not," Caspian said with a shrug, "But if I ever have children, I would probably name them something else, because the name Caspian reflects on how my race destroyed the free Narnia. Maybe Rilian if it were a boy..."

"And a girl?"

"I haven't really decided... I don't think about it as much because Telmarine princesses are always married off or their brothers take the throne. And besides, it's too early to marry in order to have children."

"Or maybe because you haven't found your perfect queen," Evangeline said with an amused smirk, "Perhaps Susan?"

"Excuse me?" Caspian asked, blinking in surprise.

"Don't try to deny it Caspian, you like her."

"I do not! We haven't even spoken yet." Caspian replied, even though a smile of a blush played on his face.

"But you think she's attractive."

"Well, yes, we don't see many people with blue eyes here in Narnia. Or green," he said, motioning at Evangeline's eyes, "They're exotic."

"So you do like her! Oh never mind, I'm just pulling your leg," Evangeline laughed.

"You're not pulling my leg..." Caspian said drifting off awkwardly.

Evangeline sighed with a smile, "'Pulling your leg' is a phrase which just means that I'm joking."

"Oh! I have noticed that you and the Kings and Queens have rather odd sayings."

"That's how we communicate back in England rather than just saying things in a literal sense. It makes the normality more colourful."

"Your life at home must be a bore then, if you have to invent sayings to make it more fun."

"You have no idea..." Evangeline said, breaking off to a sudden gasp as an enormous field full of green grass dotted with yellow flowers lay out before her. But it wasn't what she was gasping about. It was what lay beyond that field.

There was a stone hill, so large and so wide that it stretched out over the horizon. Trees grew atop and, and vines climbed its many levels. Evangeline had a sudden urge to run and climb on those rocks to get to the highest so that she could see the forest that they had walked through below her. Then scream her lungs out with how elated she would be feeling.

"It's beautiful…" she managed to say.

"My lady," Caspian said with a bow, "I welcome you to Aslan's How."

* * *

**Reviews please? And who thought the Voyage of the Dawn Treader was awesome? I did :D**

**Any additional thoughts?  
**


	14. I guess it's my forte

**A.N: Filler chapter really, but meh. Story favourites and alerts make my day, but reviews make my week :)**

**Disclaimer: Do we really have to go through this again?**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 13 – I guess it's my forte**

The whole group advanced towards the How as they crossed the yellow dotted field.

"What are those flowers?" Evangeline asked, looking closely at them, they looked to be between dandelions and tulips.

"They're Narnian buttercups. I think," Caspian replied, "I have never been so good with flowers…"

"But don't princes have to know flowers well? In order to keep the ladies of their court happy?"

Caspian gave a charming crooked smile, "I have never really cared…"

"So you've never courted anyone before?"

The prince shook his head.

Evangeline tsked, "It's such a shame, a charming prince like you not courting any ladies. Women would fall at your feet."

"I haven't experienced the need to kick anybody in the face yet," Caspian replied.

They both laughed.

As they walked closer, they passed broken down stone columns that seemed to come out of nowhere. More ruins, honestly, how destroyed was this country? Still, ruins always made things look a little more historical. She could tell that this land has been through a lot. Overhead, the entrance of the How was beginning to get larger, and she could see levels of different terraces jutting out from the stone. Whether it was naturally formed or formed by magic, the whole place was magnificent.

The girl gasped at the assemblage of centaurs on the sides of the entrance into the How and watched how the four Pevensies automatically stepped forward, embracing the royal welcoming that they deserved. As they stopped to absorb the grandeur of it all, the centaurs flourished their swords from its scabbards and raised them in unison.

There was no hesitation as the four siblings strode towards the entrance, smiling in nostalgia from remembering their past. Their backs straightened unconsciously and they walked in a regal posture that Evangeline had never seen before. These were the same Pevensies from Finchley that she knew, but everything about them had suddenly changed in the span of that mere half a minute.

For some reason, she had the impression that she would need to start calling them 'your majesties'.

Evangeline stayed back with Caspian who shifted uncomfortably, looking down at his feet. "Don't worry Caspian… You'll get a welcome like that one day."

"I don't think so…" Caspian replied hesitantly, "Not after I betrayed my people…"

She had heard his story from Edmund, but too many details were left out, she wanted to hear the whole story and the reason behind Prince Caspian fleeing from his home, from his mouth, maybe in Spanish, but that was stretching it out a little too much. "If you feel like you've done the right thing, then there's nothing you should worry about."

"I hope that I've done the right thing…"

Evangeline smiled encouragingly at him, walking side by side with Caspian after the Pevensies. She passed the centaurs with their arms raised open-mouthed as her walking slowed. This was all Greek mythology coming true. She suddenly wondered whether sea serpents or Hydras were real.

Bounding with an extra step to catch up to Caspian, she was temporarily blinded by the sudden darkness as they entered through the entrance of the How. She blinked a few times to get rid of the sun spots that were dancing in her eyes, only to make out a large open area that was lit by torchlight. The musical sound of hammer on metal and the sizzle of welded weapons being plunged through cold water hit her ears.

Evangeline stayed next to Caspian, trying not to look too much at Edmund in case Peter caught her, and watched how the Prince graciously nodded his head at each creature who worked there as they passed. If he was worrying about betraying his own race, and of them hating him, then they wouldn't ever know of what a great King Caspian would've made.

Peter and Edmund stood there, taking in the scene in their minds as they analysed the workers and the tools used in each station. "It may not be what you're used to…" Caspian said, addressing the Pevensie kings at he motioned at the forgers. "But it is defensible…"

Peter nodded, conveying the phrase 'Its fine,' without really saying anything.

"Peter…" They heard Susan say. They all looked up, even though it was addressed to the eldest Pevensie, there was a tone of anxiousness laced with uncertainty that caught their attention. "You better come see this…"

Peter's good ol' smiley face that Evangeline had seen an hour earlier was set in a grim line as he walked to his sister.

All of the boys held a flaming torch in their hands as they swept around the corridor, looking at each carved image that was coloured in with pigment. One was of four kings and queens standing behind their throne, another was of two girls riding on what seemed to be a lion. The four Pevensies seemed pretty choked up with what they were seeing while Evangeline had no idea what it was.

"The art is nice…" she whispered awkwardly to Caspian, whose attention was focused on Susan.

"It's… us…" Susan choked out.

"What?" Evangeline asked.

She looked at Caspian who shook his head, "Estoy seguro de que voy a explicar a usted más tarde ..." _I'm sure they'll explain it to you later… _Caspian whispered to her with a cough, what a mouthful for someone who hadn't spoken in Telmarine in such a long time.

Evangeline nodded and caught Edmund's eyes. _What in Narnia is he saying? _His eyes seemed to ask her. Then he quirked an eyebrow as if asking, _You can understand that?_

She nodded while biting her lip with a sheepish smile.

Edmund's eyes flickered to an image that had a dark-haired boy standing before a lady seated on a sleigh. His expression tightened and his eyes narrowed in a split second of hatred before his eyes flitted away, back to an expression of anxiety. Evangeline had the sudden desire to find out why the image made Edmund react that way.

Peter had told her that Edmund had betrayed his family but made up for it, but that was all he said.

"What is this place?" Lucy asked after tracing an image with her finger.

"You don't know?" Caspian replied in his Telmarine accent.

Evangeline rolled her eyes and gave him a pointed look that said, _Do_ _you really think so, amigo?_

With a slight shake of his head, Caspian lead them down a dark corridor. Their torch lights flickered as they walked and made whooshing noises. It comforted Evangeline in the dark. Dark confined places made her panic rise. Yeah, she pretty much guessed that she was claustrophobic, but she'd never tell anyone about it.

The descended a few stone steps, the sounds of their boots echoing off the silent walls. They could still see nothing ahead of them but watched as Caspian walked to the side and lowered his torch down. There was a strong sound of fire flickering as the fire licked the barricaded wall that stretched across the back of the room. The darkness had soon disappeared as the whole room lit up before their eyes, casting a warm golden glow. Behind on the walls were actual carved out statues of different creatures. They posed like normal people would in family portraits. The faun-husband's arm was around his faun-wife, and they had a little faun-boy standing in the middle of them, smiling happily.

In front of them however, was a stone table that was split in half, and behind it were pillars that looked like the Stonehenge. Peter had told Evangeline about the Stone Table before. That Aslan had sacrificed himself for some reason that Peter didn't explain. The wall directly behind the Stone Table had a carved out picture of a majestic lion that everyone was gazing in respect upon. Evangeline guessed that this was Aslan.

With a few slow steps, Lucy walked to the Stone Table and placed her hand on it, breathing in the memories that washed over her.

"He must've known what he was doing," the youngest girl said.

Peter inhaled heavily and looked at the image of Aslan. "I think it's up to us now."

Evangeline looked at Caspian with a worried expression and he returned the glance with same amount of apprehension.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"These will be your sleeping places…" Caspian said as they stopped in the middle of a corridor, motioning at a large cave opening that looked like quarters. "I wish that we could have given you better accommodation, but…" Caspian drifted off as he looked at the stone ground.

"It's fine," Susan said encouragingly, "we're used to sleeping on hard floor anyway."

Peter walked in and dropped his things on the ground, ignoring Caspian completely. Evangeline narrowed her eyes at him. "Ese cerdo grosero…" _That rude pig_, she muttered.

Both Edmund and Lucy gave Caspian an encouraging smile, "Thanks Caspian," Lucy said before heading in and laying her sleeping roll out.

"No creo que no me gusta mucho…" _I don't think he likes me very much_, Caspian said to Evangeline, who was obviously the only other Telmarine speaker there apart from him. He motioned to Peter as he said it.

Evangeline shook her head and leaned back on the wall with a sigh, "No es por lo general les gusta esto, pero que está siendo un culo, que va a venir alrededor de pronto… Ojalá." _He's not usually like this, but he's being an ass, he'll come around soon… Hopefully._

"Avisarme cuando lo hace, para que yo pudiera escribir la fecha y hora de cuando el Gran Rey Peter el Magnífico dejó de ser un culo." _Warn me when he does, so that I could write the date and time of when High King Peter the Magnificent stopped being an ass._

Evangeline laughed but stopped when she saw Caspian's gaze lingering on Susan.

"Usted debe hablar con ella, ya sabes." _You should talk to her, you know,_ Evangeline told him gently, beckoning at Susan.

Caspian sighed, "No he encontrado realmente una oportunidad..." _I haven't really found an opportunity…_

Evangeline smiled, "Don't worry, you will," she said, converting back to English.

"If you're sure about it…"

"I am," she replied confidently. "I could help out."

"No, not at this time, maybe after, it would be too much for you, but thank you."

"We could trade stories to get to know each other better," Evangeline suggested.

"I would love to, but there are some things that require my attention. If you'll excuse me, my lady, your majesties," Caspian bowed to them as he said it. "Please, feel free to relax for today as you must have had a tiring journey, for tomorrow we'll need to start working. There are a few things that I need help clearing with, but it can wait."

"Gracias Caspio," Evangeline thanked him with a smile.

Caspian smiled in return, "It's been a long time since anyone has called me that, my lady."

A smile etched itself on Evangeline's face as she watched Caspian walk away. She had made a new friend today and they were getting along very well so far. She guessed that she would have to wait to hear Caspian's story.

Evangeline took a space next to the wall and unrolled her bed-spread, unpacking the few things that she had brought with her. A few reading books, a sketchbook, pencils and charcoals, her armour. The dress that she had brought with her stayed in the bag along with the hairpin that she had brought with her.

"I never knew you spoke a mystical language, Evangeline," Edmund said to her.

"It's Spanish."

"Maybe you could teach Susan," Lucy suggested.

So begins phase one of teasing our dearly beloved gentle Queen.

"Why would I need to learn Spanish, Lu?" Susan asked, looking up from her belongings.

Peter looked at Evangeline and Lucy disapprovingly as he could tell where it was going.

"Oh, I don't know…" Lucy drifted off, "Maybe to… talk to a certain handsome prince?"

"I don't think he's handsome…" Edmund said.

Evangeline put her hand up as she sat crossed legged on the floor. She looked like a kindergarten eagerly waiting to be picked by a teacher. "I do! He. Is. Dreamy."

Edmund looked uncomfortable with Evangeline's shameless words. He wasn't sure as to whether she was saying this just to tease Susan, or whether she really thought Caspian was dreamy. They got along so well though, and it hasn't even been an hour. Was that what she really thought of Caspian? That he's dreamy? _Why should I care? It means nothing to me if she thinks Caspian is dreamy. She's just putting on an act to tease Susan._

"Mmm…" Lucy agreed, "Especially with that Spanish accent of his."

"Tall, dark haired, handsome, has a Spanish accent. He couldn't be more perfect," Evangeline continued.

"I'm sure you're bound to fancy him, Susan," Edmund said, picking up where Evangeline had left off.

Susan hid her blush by looking down, "He's not my type," she scowled.

Peter almost smirked at seeing his younger sister's sureness melt away. He did tell Evangeline that he'll tease Susan if he had the chance, even if she may like Caspian. There couldn't be a better opportunity.

"You have taste for boys now little sister? My, that is something to be concerned about!" said Peter

"Oh don't concern yourself too much, I can look after myself," Susan replied sarcastically.

Edmund faked a gasp, "How could you say that Su? After you've been mooning over him in your mind?"

Edmund stood up from his spot and walked over to Evangeline who sat cross-legged. By the mischievous glint in his eyes, she could tell that he was up to something and was unsure as to whether to play along or to defend herself.

"This is you," he told Susan, pointing at Evangeline, "and I'm Caspian," Edmund said, pointing to himself. "Would you care for a dance, my beautiful lady Susan?" he asked, mocking Caspian's Spanish accent perfectly with a bow.

Evangeline gaped slightly at his accent but came back to her senses as she accepted his hand as gracefully and lady-like as she could.

"Why of course, I would be delighted, handsome prince Caspian," she replied in a mock-Susan's voice.

'Caspian' pulled her up, bowing once again to her and she awkwardly curtsied in return.

She held back a blush when Edmund's arm snaked to the small of her back and pulled her closer to him and forced some calmness to wash over her rapidly beating heartbeat as she felt Edmund breathe in her ear.

Evangeline fidgeted nervously as she avoided meeting his dark gaze.

He took her right hand in his and she placed one on his shoulder and they pretended to dance. She felt the soles of her feet landing clumsily several times on Edmund's. She could hear him silently wincing. "Sorry," she kept on muttering with a smile.

Only yesterday she was scheming of different ways to patronise and prank him, and now, she had the perfect excuse to get him back for all of the things he had done to her. There weren't a lot of things that he had done to annoy her, but she could tell that he was going to torture her during training. _All the more reason to step on his feet_, she thought with an inward shrug.

"I think I'm going to faint," Evangeline pretended to gush, her melodramatic side kicking in after she remembered that they were supposed to be teasing Susan.

"Why is that, Susan?" Edmund asked, still in the Spanish accent.

"Because, I think that I'm going to be intoxicated by being this close to you, Caspian," Evangeline smirked as she added the last word.

Edmund spun her and she almost tripped over her feet, his arms shot out like lightning and fastened around her waist, drawing her into him.

"Told you I was going to faint."

Peter laughed at the pair.

"You're awfully clumsy for a queen, Susan," 'Caspian' remarked.

"I'm sorry," Evangeline replied, trying her best to mock Susan's voice, flustered, "It's just that... I'm just so nervous around you that I- I can't concentrate on my own dancing," she stuttered.

Peter laughed and nudged Susan. "Oh, c'mon Susan, lighten up."

Susan's scowl darkened.

Lucy ran over to Peter and dragged him by the hand, "Peter, dance with me," she said with a grin.

Peter stood up and the two siblings exchanged a bow and a curtsy. With a laugh Peter took Lucy in his arms and began to spin her around. They moved so fluidly that Evangeline wouldn't even stand a chance if she was compared with them.

They heard a cough coming from the doorframe and both Evangeline and Edmund jumped apart.

"What are you doing?" the real Caspian asked, looking perplexed at the four who stood up, and then at the scowling Susan.

"Dancing!" Lucy said brightly, "Come Caspian, you could be Susan's partner!"

Susan's blush was so red that Evangeline and Edmund looked at each other, Evangeline giggled while Edmund stifled a laugh.

"That's a brilliant idea!" Edmund added.

Evangeline's grin broadened as Caspian hesitated, "I've just come to remind you that dinner would be at sunset, outside of the How." The prince bowed again, and left. _Why does he keep on bowing like that? We're all the same age…_

Edmund did Caspian's crooked smile, getting back into character, "I guess that concludes our dance, your majesty."

"What?" Evangeline asked in surprise as she focused her attention back on Edmund.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but my feet are suddenly aching," Edmund said with a small smirk.

"Ahh, of course Prince Caspian, I believe that it may be the result of my clumsiness, I apologise."

Evangeline tried to curtsy as Edmund bowed, taking her hand and kissing her knuckle in one smooth motion, locking his eyes with hers as he did it. The girl did all she could to control her breathing as her heart began to beat out of control. All too soon, she looked away as her arm dropped limply to her side, returning back to her sleeping roll, flustered.

She tried to get rid of the blush that she felt on her face and tried to calm her heartbeat. What was wrong with her? Blushing like a fool over a boy. If it never happened in England, then why is it happening here? Well, it shouldn't, Evangeline wanted to scoff. It's wrong to deny your feelings though…

Taking her sketchpad and pencils out from her pack, she sat there, drawing to relieve her mind of crazy teenage thoughts that were shifting too quickly to be comforting. Her pencil made rough strokes, but they were quick and precise. Soon a set of dark, mysterious looking eyes and a tall nose, Edmund, was staring back at her.

"What in the world?" she managed to say, just as she realised who she had drawn without really thinking.

"It's time!" the subject of her drawing said brightly, making her jump. She quickly closed her sketchpad and stuffed it in her bag. Edmund must never see that sketch.

"Time for what?" Evangeline asked nervously. It wasn't sunset yet, so it couldn't be dinner.

"Training," Edmund said with a smirk as he dragged the groaning Evangeline out of the How equipped with their weapons.

"Caspian told us to relax!" Evangeline said as she stumbled after Edmund.

"I'm King, he's Prince, who has a higher authority?"

Edmund laughed as Evangeline mumbled, "Bloody royals."

They positioned themselves in the field where many of the soldiers were training, however they edged further away from the clashing of steel swords so that Edmund could better instruct. Or rather, in case Evangeline decided to throw one of her swords.

"Got both of your weapons?" Edmund asked.

Evangeline nodded and positioned herself with her arms slightly raised in front of her, Eresen and Thaulen in her hands.

"Are you ready?" Edmund asked, taking his unsheathing his sword.

"Are you?" Evangeline challenged, trying to sound confident. Her shaky laugh gave her nervousness away.

Edmund grinned, suddenly having a flashback of the playing cricket on the Old Professors home last year. "I'll attack on three. One… Two… Three!"

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"You're getting better," Edmund mused as Evangeline had finally landed a blow on his arm after trying for at least 23 times by her count. She was still pretty useless against him, and she knew that he was going easy on her. Not, easy like he was just dropping his skill down by a level, but easy like he was teaching a kindergarten something new. Evangeline might have degraded her skill level down a little in her mind, but that's how she felt.

"Finally!" Evangeline exclaimed as she paused her attack. Edmund smirked and slapped her on the wrist with his sword, causing her to drop her own. "Ouch! What's your problem?"

"Your wonderful lapse in concentration will be the end of you on the battlefield. Please refrain from your exclamations if you successfully stab a soldier, you'll only draw more attention to yourself."

Evangeline rolled her eyes at his formality as she rubbed her wrists, "Yes, your majesty."

"Don't call me that."

"Apologies, your majesty," Evangeline smirked.

Edmund rolled his eyes in return, "When you're sword fighting, your movements are jerky. It's supposed to be fluid and smooth."

Evangeline scoffed, "I don't think movements are supposed to be smooth if you're trying to hack someone's head off."

"It all has to do with your footing," Edmund continued, "Stepping and moving with a sword is a lot like ballroom dancing..."

Evangeline was silent for a while as she fidgeted with her swords.

"Evangeline?" Edmund asked, looking at her curiously, he had expected a retort from her.

She bit her lip in embarrassment, "Uhh, Ed... I don't know how to dance..."

"What? I thought you could. That you were only teasing Susan when you were stepping on my foot."

Evangeline shook her head, shamefaced.

Edmund smiled, "It's alright, just another thing to add to the list of 'Things to teach Evangeline' which goes along with 'How to properly kill a bear' and 'explain to Evangeline that Narnian water is harmless'."

"Could you add, 'How to shoot Edmund' in it as well?" Evangeline returned.

Edmund ignored her taunt and continued, "A gentleman bows before dancing with a lady," he said, giving her a low bow. "In turn, the lady has to curtsy."

Evangeline tried to curtsy, but it came out more like a bob as her feet shook in their awkward position. Edmund laughed, "Your feet are all wrong, left foot in front, right foot behind. They don't have to be parallel, Ange. Yes, like that," he said as Evangeline adjusted herself. "Much better, see?"

"Wow, I've drastically improved on my curtsy, its life changing, isn't it?" she asked dryly.

Edmund chuckled as he took her right hand, placing it on his shoulder. She tentatively stepped closer, fidgeting as she looked at her feet. Like before, Edmund took his right hand in her left and the other was placed on her hip.

"It's fairly simple once you get the hang of it," he told her, "but until then, I'll try my best to put up with the pain."

Evangeline slapped him on the arm.

Edmund grinned, "The simplest of all ballroom dancing is the waltz, all you have to do is follow where I step. Ready? There's three beats in a waltz, the first beat is stronger than the others, so you have to step further on the first beat." Edmund guided her through some three step movement, "So it's, One… two three. One big step, and then two little ones."

Instead of those normal dark looks that he always wears, Edmund's face was relaxed, which made Evangeline feel more comfortable with him than she usually is. She followed his feet, holding herself out at arm's length to see where she had to step.

"Don't look down, Ange," he murmured as soon as he pulled her in closer to him, warm breath tickling her ear. Evangeline tensed, feeling a slight giddiness come over her, a blush rose to her face and she did all she could to keep it down. When she did compose herself, she looked up and hoped that Edmund hadn't noticed that her palms were sweating.

"You'll be confused with my footing, if you looked at your opponent, you would know where they'd step by the movement of their whole body, not their legs. Look at me instead. I'm a much better view than my feet," he added with a wry smile.

A smile played on her lips, though Evangeline didn't say anything in return and avoided his gaze. She knew that if she looked into his eyes, she wouldn't be able to take them off of his.

"Always keep eye contact, Evangeline. Otherwise you wouldn't know where they'd step next."

Evangeline's eyes creased, was he somehow reading her mind just to tell her to do what she didn't want to? Hesitantly, her eyes scanned from the side of Edmunds face to meet his eyes, where his deep browns locked with her emerald ones.

One… two three, she counted in her mind, repeating it over and over again as she moved with Edmund.

It was almost like she was hypnotised, just staring into his deep brown orbs...

"Good, you're moving more fluidly... Or not," he said, just as she stepped on his foot.

His comment distracted her from her hypnotic state. "Oops... Sorry," she smiled sheepishly.

Edmund smiled back at her in return. It wasn't a smirk, or a grin, it was a genuine smile which made him all the more handsome than he already was. Her legs felt like they were turning into jelly while her heart fluttered.

She stopped staring and snapped back to reality when he said, "It's all about anticipation. You don't know what's going to happen next. That's why you have to be ready."

"That's not very helpful when you are trying to save yourself..." she murmured.

"No, but it does make you more alert," Edmund replied gently as he spun her. This time she didn't trip over her own legs and returned back to facing Edmund without stepping on his feet. Evangeline smiled in triumph.

Edmund grinned, "Much better."

After a few more minutes of what Edmund called 'dancing' Evangeline stepped away. "I think I kind of understand the concept."

Edmund nodded drawing out his sword just as she did. They circled each other for a bit, mimicking the other's foot movements, waiting in anticipation for the opponent to strike. Evangeline lunged for him, and he parried. The glint of excitement was back in his eyes as they traded blows back and forth.

Evangeline laughed as she realised what beat what they were fighting to. One… two, three. Parry… thrust, slash. They paused for a bit when their blades collided, and for the briefest second, their eyes met, where Evangeline smiled wickedly before she took a step back, blocking Edmund's over head blow by bringing her own sword above her head and over her shoulder, spinning like Edmund had spun her. She continued her 360 degree turn as she ducked to dodge his next blow, spinning again for a backhand slash.

She stood back up and side-stepped just as Edmund struck a blow which just narrowly her shoulder. Her eyes widened in alarm but she continued to attack as Edmund advanced. Her foot caught on something and she lost the beat she was fighting to, tripping over in the process. A small shriek escaped from her lips as she fell, only to experience a sharp pain on her arm where Edmund gripped her wrist tightly, preventing her from falling.

The excited glint in his eyes was still there as he pointed the tip of his sword at her throat, unlike her heavy breathing, Edmund's breath was laboured. "Dead," he announced.

Evangeline knew that it was the end of their training session but she couldn't help glaring at him as he pulled her back up. "You're the second best knight that Peter knows of. Of course I'd be dead."

Edmund shrugged, "If it were from a normal soldier, you still would be. You still need to work on your footing."

"I know."

"But you've improved a lot Evangeline. That's good."

"It's not enough to defend myself though," she said to him as they slowly made their way back to where all of the other soldiers were training.

Some were practising their sword skills with their fellow soldiers, while others practised on wooden mannequins. What Evangeline saw as she looked beyond all the slashing was an archery field, with green grass as green as they could be, bright with all its glory. It might have been her imagination, but to her the archery field seemed to glow in the late afternoon sun.

When Trumpkin had shot the bear with his arrow, Evangeline had the desire to try out archery. She wanted to feel the ultimate power of holding someone's life in your hands, and be able to end it just by releasing a string. Power lust, they called it, but Evangeline just felt extremely curious to try out archery just to have that feeling.

"That's what I'm here for, right?" Edmund asked, looking at her, only to see her attention focused on something else, "Evangeline?"

The girl who was staring longingly at the archery range looked back at him. "Can I please try it? Please?" she pleaded, dragging him by the arm past the soldiers.

He would have said no, said that one weapon to learn was enough for now, but her pleading eyes persuaded him otherwise. "Fine, it's not like you'd listen to me anyway if I said no."

"You're right," she grinned cheekily. He could've sworn that he heard a squeal from her as she ran to the archery range. He watched her amused as she looked for a bow suitable for herself, flexing the strings and testing them out to suit her own strength.

There was something different about her, she fought with him from the very start, still fought with him actually, yet they got along so well. Strange isn't it? That he could start liking a girl like that. He had always thought that he'd go for a girl that looked like a movie star and was naturally flirtatious, but now that he thought about it, he didn't really know what qualities he'd look for in a girl. But he was quite sure that back then in Golden Age that he wouldn't fall for a girl who would argue with him whenever she had the chance. _Things change I guess, Evangeline's not a feisty person though. She's just opinionated._ Edmund thought as calmly walked towards the archery range, watching as Evangeline positioned herself at least 50 metres away from the bullseye.

"Archery isn't as easy as it looks," Edmund told her as she took an arrow from a quiver, fitting it on her bow.

"How would you know?" Evangeline asked, pulling the string back.

Edmund sighed, "Susan is my sister, it's obvious that she made all of her siblings try out archery." He laughed at Evangeline's comical expression. She had her left eye shut, with her tongue sticking out from the side of her mouth in concentration as she took aim.

_You're adorable_, he wanted to say, but he knew that she would react to it. _Besides, stop thinking about her like that, she's your student._ "Relax…" he said as he gently pushed her rising elbow down. "Keep your elbow level with the corner of your mouth."

Evangeline took his advice with a nod, breathing out and reshuffling her face in all the calmness that she could muster. _Twang! _Came the sound of the string as it released the arrow. _Thump! _

"YES!" Evangeline yelled excitedly, jumping up with a fist pump as she saw that her arrow had landed right in the red circle of the archery board. She grinned triumphantly as she placed both hands on her hips. "Well, what do you know? I got bullseye!"

"Unbelievable! That's a fluke," Edmund said, eyes widening in surprise. He looked down at his feet, shaking his head as he laughed.

"Fine, I will try to prove you wrong," she said, fitting another arrow. She composed herself, took a few deep breaths, took aim and fired. It hit just on the line of the red bullseye before the next ring of white. "How's that for fluke?"

"It's not in the middle," Edmund argued.

"It's on the board," Evangeline retorted with a laugh, fitting on another arrow. She fired it again and it landed on the line of the white ring to the red ring. She laughed, "I guess archery is my forte, this is so much easier than sword fighting."

She fired some more, with Edmund patiently watching her with an amused expression on his face. He laughed with Evangeline every time she got excited about her arrow thumping on the board, which was all the time because she hardly missed. It seemed like her energy was boundless when it came to archery.

"Why didn't Peter just ask Susan to train you in archery? You're a natural, and it would have saved us all of the trouble."

Evangeline grinned, "Maybe because I'm already good enough not to need any training in archery."

Edmund shook his head, "And here I thought you had learnt humility."

"Besides," Evangeline continued, "Peter probably only made you train me so that I could annoy you."

"You're probably right…"

_Twang! Thump! Twang! Thump!_

"This bow is perfect! I need to mark it with something so that I can find it tomorrow," Evangeline exclaimed.

"Why don't you just take it with you?" Edmund asked.

"Nah, other soldiers might need it tomorrow," she said as she plucked a Narnian buttercup, threading the stem through the string where it was attached to the bow. "There, now let's see if the flower is strong enough to last."

_Twang! Thump! Twang! Thump!_

After five more shots, she set down her bow, satisfied with the buttercup's endurance.

"I thought you'd be here until midnight," Edmund mused.

She shook her head as she rubbed her stomach, "I'm hungry."

With a laugh, they walked to the fire that was set in front of the How.

* * *

**A.N: Reviews please, my dearly beloved readers?**


	15. Love Lost

**A.N: AHHH! 100+ reviews! Thank you soooooo much to all that who did, YOU ROCK! I'm so grateful and thrilled to have readers like you! *does a Marshwiggle dance* Hehehe, I'm not sure if Marshwiggles - those depressing lot, do dance or not. :/  
**

**I am quite very much stuck on the plotting, so once I get it sorted, chapters will hopefully be up faster. :)  
**

**Disclaimer: Do I sound like Andrew Adamsson, Michael Apted or C.S Lewis? Nooo. So Narnia does not belong to me.  
**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 14 – Love Lost**

"So, tell me about the story about Peter's beloved mermaid," Evangeline murmured to Edmund after they had finished eating. They were sitting crossed legged around the fire, some sat on logs while others sat on the grass. Peter sat with Lucy and Susan across from where she was, so hopefully he couldn't pick up what they were talking about.

Edmund shifted slightly, lowering his voice to match hers, "You might laugh about how pathetic it was..."

"I'll try not to, but I can't promise that I won't."

"Well, there's not much I know about it because most of the story told was from a dryad who spied on them."

Evangeline snorted, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them, "That's not really nice."

Edmund grinned and sighed, "Well, it was in the Golden Age when it happened. It was when Peter was twenty five years of age, I had sent all of his suitors home, and we both had a lot at the time. Some of them were so outrageous."

"You have to tell me a story about them one day."

A soft laugh escaped from Edmund's lips, "One story at a time, Ange. Anyway, because we were always so caught up in our work, we barely had any time for family. That day we rode out to the beach close to our castle and Peter went missing for about an hour. Susan got really worried, but then he came back. He was so quiet, lost in his thoughts but he always had this smile on his face."

"He was in love," Evangeline said, meeting Edmund's smile.

"Every day he would ride out of the castle and come back after three hours. No one knew where he went, and no one had the guts to follow him. A dryad who spied on Peter reported back to us, saying that it was unhealthy for his majesty to go missing from his duties. It turns out that he had met a mermaid named Aurelia. She was the princess to the throne of Velanome, the underwater city of Narnia. She was just as witty and learned as any other princess. The only difference was that she had a tail to replace her feet.

"So they talked and fell in love and one day Peter had to go away to a meeting in Archenland. Little did he know that Aurelia's father, King Auren had found out about her meetings with Peter. He gave her warnings but she never listened, so one day he said that if he saw her talking to Peter again, he'd start an uprising."

Evangeline laughed, "As if that would do much, they're underwater."

Edmund looked at her in confusion, "Merpeople have control of the seas, if they started an uprising, it wouldn't be by fighting. They can control water. That means that they could start a tsunami, or control water to directly hit Cair Paravel… Destroy our ports. Destroy boats if they're able to make a maelstrom. That would mean, no fishing, no food. They could drown our land. Drain all of our water, which would mean that crops would fail. Then, creatures and humans would all die. Aslan knows what else they can do..."

"Oh…" was Evangeline's stupid reply. "It makes more sense now as to why an uprising is bad."

Edmund continued his story, "So he forbade her from ever speaking to Peter again, I think his exact words were, 'you shall never see, hear nor speak to the King of the Upper land, not while your body is still cast in water.' Aurelia naturally objected, but she was bound to her father's command, so she sought out the Witch of the Seas, Louhaiva to help her."

"Witches are bad…" Evangeline muttered.

"You've no idea… So Aurelia asked for her help, and the Witch complied to her pleadings, she gave Aurelia a week on land as a human to get Peter to kiss her that she'd turn into a human forever and spend the rest of her days on dry land. Aurelia drank the potion and POOF!" Edmund grabbed a handful of sticks and leaves and threw them into the fire for a dramatic effect. Instead of exploding, they crackled and burnt up.

Evangeline stifled a giggle when he turned to her face filled with disappointment and shrugged, saying, "You know what I mean. She found that she couldn't breathe underwater and needed oxygen. When she dragged herself out of the sea and onto land, she crawled to a dryad's tree and asked her for help. The dryads gave her clothes and taught her to walk, pointing the way to Cair Paravel where Peter was..."

They felt and heard someone sit down next to them and to their horror, they realised it was Peter. Evangeline cringed and edged away from him, meeting Edmund's eyes that were widened like hers. "Mierda…" _Crap…_ she swore in a whisper.

"No, continue," Peter said to Edmund, calmer than she'd think he would. Edmund shook his head and clamped his mouth shut.

Peter sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you myself. It might explain a few things a little easier. And you might understand me better."

"You don't need to if you don't want to," Evangeline said uncomfortably.

Peter shook his head, "It's fine... You were up to the part of the witches spell?"

The two fifteen year olds said nothing.

"Aurelia had consulted the witch of the seas and she bargained with her for herself to turn into a human for a week to go to castle Cair Paravel to find me to fulfil the spell. I thought that as a princess, Aurelia would know better than to deal with any witches at all because even though they granted you your wish, they always put something a little extra in.

"That day when I was out riding across the beach, looking for any signs of Aurelia, I had the sudden need to get into the water and my feet felt like jelly. They couldn't respond to what I wanted them to do at all, and I took my horse to peer over the rocks to look at the water and I fell in.

"That little extra thing that Louhaiva put in Aurelia's potion was that her true love would turn into whatever she was. So I turned into a merman while she was a human. It was the queerest sensation that I had ever felt, flopping around like a fish…" Peter said, musing.

At this, Susan and Lucy had come to join them as soon as they heard that Peter was telling a story about him, both sisters sat on either side of their brother. Peter acknowledged them and continued with his story, seeing that if Evangeline and Edmund had the right to know his whole story, they would too.

"All I wanted to do was go and find Aurelia so that she could help explain my sudden transformation. I realised that being underwater, I could just be with her… It was strange being underwater because you could never really keep track of the time. There was no sun to help and they didn't have clocks…

"The merpeople were a hospitable lot, helping me find my way to the castle of their king. They had no idea who I was, and they thought that I was an ambassador from another country. Countries underwater are just different territories. They just assumed that I came from some odd city of Peritain where merpeople have different coloured hair that wasn't blue.

"When I did find the castle, I learned that Aurelia wasn't there and searched everywhere in the city for her. The king had also realised that his daughter was missing so he sent out search parties to look for her, thinking that she had come to meet me on land… I stumbled across a crack in the ground and that was last time that I had ever searched for Aurelia…

"I heard some cackling, or heckling, whatever it was, coming out of it, hearing some crazed water witch crooning to her underwater pet. I quickly learnt that whoever that was, she was the one responsible for casting the spell on Aurelia and me…

The spell was fuelled on Aurelia's life, and if Aurelia didn't complete her mission, she'd die..."

The four who were listening gasped, horrified at the prospect of taking a life for a wish.

"That's what witches do… Witches spells are always there to work against you. If you wanted something, they would grant you it, but there is always something there that would back fire your wish…

If the witch wanted you dead, you were… All that she wanted was a little drama before her victims fell into her trap and die in their tragic doom…"

The group was quiet, and for once, Evangeline didn't interrupt his storytelling.

"When I learnt of this, I swam as fast as I could back to the surface, to try and warn Aurelia, wherever she was… Before I even reached halfway, my breath ran out and my fish tail turned back into human legs. I somehow managed to resurface, getting out of the water as fast as I could…"

Peter was quiet for a while, closing his eyes as he relived the scene. "I saw Aurelia's body, lying there on the beach, blue hair splayed out and eyes closed. Her body had turned back to her normal state… She looked so peaceful it was as if she was sleeping, but when I checked her heartbeat it wasn't there. I kissed her, again and again in vain, hoping that she'd respond to it, but there was nothing… She was gone…"

At this, Lucy sobbed while Susan stayed silent, tears trickling down her face. Lucy took Peter's hand and held it in both of her palms, like she didn't want him to slip into this sadness any further.

"The witch could've taken my life instead, but she took Aurelia's. If she took mine… I wouldn't have really minded…"

"No…" Evangeline whispered, voice cracking as she felt tears pricking at her eyes. "You can't say that Peter."

"I did because back then, right then and there, I just wanted someone to take the pain away. I would have ended my life…"

With that sentence, Evangeline closed her eyes and let her tears fall. Edmund placed an arm around her, comforting her even though she wasn't the one that needed to be comforted.

Lucy's sob came out choked and she buried her head in Peter's shoulder, where he wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently.

"I just remember sitting there, holding Aurelia close to me, sobbing, shouting, crying until I had no energy left and a numbing sensation had taking over me. I was a soulless creature who was ready to give up on living, too ready to join Aurelia in Aslan's country.

"It was dark out when I heard footsteps padding on the beach. It was Aslan. With all my might I was hoping that he'd bring her back to life, but he told me that it wasn't possible for him to do so. He took her body from me. One minute, I had her head cradled in my arms and the next she was gone. I shouted, throwing myself at him and pounded my fists into his body…

"Without really doing anything, he knocked me aside and told me to look up at the stars because he had preserved her there for all of eternity. And there she was. A full constellation if you knew where to look… I knelt on the sand, distraught and ashamed of my actions. Tears dripped off my face, and I poured all of my frustration out to Aslan, who stayed there patiently, listening intently to my broken hearted babbling and watched over me long after I had fallen asleep on the beach… He sent for some people to bring me back to my castle and I just stayed there on the balcony, with the stars and Aurelia as my only comfort…

"All of you… you would have loved to have met her. She was the most exotic person I've ever known. With hair so blue you would think that they were water, and eyes that were a soft orange like the sunrise. You would think that she belonged in our world, on land where she wanted to spend the rest of her life… But no… It was just not meant to be…"

Susan wrapped her arms around Peter's neck, "I'm so sorry… so sorry for being so hard on you with the days that followed. I'm so sorry, Peter…"

Peter put a hand on Susan's arm, "It's alright. I wasn't running the country like I was supposed to, you had every right," he replied calmly.

"I'm sure, that she would've made a wonderful queen, a great friend, and a really nice sister if everything had worked out…" Lucy sobbed, mumbling through Peter's shirt.

Peter's voice caught in his throat and cracked, "I know she would have," he said kissing Lucy's head.

As soon as the group heard Peter's voice wavering, seen the hurt that their strong leader was feeling… They couldn't help but cry harder than they were before. Edmund, who was holding in his tears for his brothers loss let them fall shamelessly.

Evangeline just felt so heartbroken for Peter, what he felt. How destroyed he was. It explained a lot of things, why he was so agitated in England. It was because the stars weren't the same back there…

"How do you bear it Peter?" Edmund whispered, "I couldn't imagine losing… someone I love…" his arm around Evangeline's racking body tightened unconsciously.

"I… I don't know. I just survived through it, thinking about the odds in our relationship. It could have never worked out anyway…"

The five sat there in silence, watching soldiers as they stood up when they had finished eating. They were still absorbed in Peter's story, which was replayed over and over in their minds. The blazing fire had died down when Susan was the first to snap out of her reverie.

"I think it's time that we should go to sleep…" she said, standing up.

"I'll sleep out here for tonight," Peter said, motioning at the stars.

Susan nodded, understanding her brother's wish. "I'll be back with your sleeping roll."

"No wait, I'll get it. I'm the one sleeping out here after all…" Peter replied, standing up with a small smile. He held onto Lucy's hand and together with Susan they walked back into the How.

Evangeline sat unmoving, still curled up in a ball, watching the three siblings retreat.

"I don't think I would ever laugh at that story, Edmund…" she murmured.

Edmund sighed, placing his head to hers, "After Peter told it, I don't think I'd ever would either…"

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"Lucy… Lucy," Evangeline heard Edmund whisper, she was pretending to be asleep as her face was facing the wall. She couldn't really sleep anyway, she was still feeling sad about Peter's story which kept her awake. She knew that Peter wouldn't be able to sleep either, especially with all those memories resurfacing.

"Mmhph?" Lucy asked in reply. She heard a ruffle of blanket as the younger girl shifted to face her brother.

"Do you think Peter will be ok? I don't want him to be depressed, not when we have so much work to do…"

"Peter's fine, he's not depressed. It's not like he'll go jump off a cliff or something, he's just sad because of past memories… I'm sure he'll be fine in the morning. We've all learnt to let go of the past."

"Mm… I guess you're right. Caspian called for a meeting in the morning. I have a feeling that we'd be swamped… I was just hoping that the only job that I had to do was train Evangeline, even that's a handful in itself."

"Don't be lazy, Edmund. We are Kings and Queens after all, it's our duty."

Edmund laughed softly at his little sister's scolding, changing the subject, "Why do you think Evangeline's here, in Narnia? I mean, Aslan could have blocked her out or something, but he didn't… Have you ever wondered why?"

There was a silence between the two siblings, Evangeline could imagine Edmund's dark eyes looking unwaveringly at his sister while Lucy's brow was furrowed, thinking deeply.

"It actually never came to mind… but I… I'm not sure… Maybe he wanted her to help fight…. She'd probably make a good tactician too…" came Lucy's reply.

"We're all good tacticians…"

"We have to be, but Evangeline's new here, maybe she'll come up with some idea that no one has thought of yet," she said with a smile in her voice. "Maybe because she's been alone, I mean look, she doesn't have any siblings, no pets…"

"I don't think it's that…" Edmund said after Lucy drifted off from her speech, "There's something more to her being here. Whatever it is… I'm worried for her, Lu…"

"She'll be fine," Lucy reassured, "she's training under you, after all."

"That's the thing though. I'm training her, but what if it isn't enough to save her life? I'll never be able to live with myself."

"Then you'll have to protect her…"

Edmund sighed, "I know and I will, unequivocally… When Peter asked me to train her, it wasn't just the only job that there was. I knew what he silently meant… I have to shield her from harm… I didn't like it at first, still don't really, since she has a habit of getting into things… but now that I think about it, I'd die for her, Lucy."

Evangeline held her breath, no, Edmund couldn't say that. He wouldn't. Ever. And he shouldn't. She didn't want him to die for her, she didn't want anyone to lay their life down for her. Not that it was likely that it would happen, but still. To have him actually admit it was extremely terrifying and surprising.

When she asked if Edmund would protect her from the Narnians, she figured that it was more of a joke. But this… it was much too serious.

"And to think that my sole job when we came back to Narnia was to pester her…" Edmund added with an inward laugh.

"I don't think it will ever come to that Edmund, you underestimate yourself too much," Lucy assured.

"I hope you're right."

There was silence between the two while Evangeline tried to steady her breathing. She didn't want Edmund protecting her, not now that she had discovered that she was competent at archery. It was strange to hear him admit these things. She mentally scolded herself for eavesdropping. If Edmund died because of her… No, she didn't even want to think about it.

"I believe you, you know." Edmund said.

"What do you mean?"

"How you saw Aslan."

Lucy smiled, "I know, you said so yourself. Thanks for standing up for me. I'm lucky to have you as my brother."

_I must be extremely lucky to have him as a friend then._ Evangeline thought, her eyes drifting close.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

Throughout the course of four hours, Evangeline kept drifting in and out of sleep. Every time she did sleep, she'd have a dream but whenever she woke, she couldn't remember it.

She closed her eyes and tried again, successfully this time, to get lost in her own drowsiness.

The dream she had was a different landscape from her other ones. The place seemed to be shining with white, yellow to orange rays from all different types of directions. Evangeline frowned mentally. How could her imagination conjure up such a strange place? As she did so, a lion walked through the rays, entering her strange dream.

_What is a lion doing in here?_

"Good evening, Evangeline…"

_How does he know my name? Is it really evening here? It seems like there is no time at all…_ Evangeline thought.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I thought you knew."

"Aslan," Evangeline stated.

Aslan inclined his head.

"Why… Why am I here Aslan?"

"I knew that this question would arise, King Edmund was quite concerned about it."

Evangeline blushed, "I know, please don't tell him I was eavesdropping..."

Aslan chuckled, "Do not worry, I assure you I won't. You are here to restore peace to Narnia."

Evangeline frowned, baffled, "I know, but isn't that the Pevensies job as well? We're all here to help Caspian do that. With his crazy uncle and everything…"

"Miraz is not crazy dear one, he is a tyrant. If you mean he's a murderer, yes, he's that too," Aslan corrected her.

Evangeline nodded dumbly.

"To restore peace to Narnia is not the only job you are charged with, my child. You need to restore peace in your friends' hearts. Without them, the free Narnia to cease to exist, and if there is no peace in their hearts, how would it be possible to govern and rebuild a fallen civilization in a peaceful world? They are Narnians, they live and breathe this world, and if one of them were to be depressed, it would spread like a plague."

"Well, it is hard to be happy when we are in the middle of a war, sir. Many things could go wrong to upset my friends…"

"That is why it is your job to make sure that nothing goes wrong. However, it is inevitable at this time. You must keep your eyes open and your head clear."

Evangeline nodded again, "It's going to be hard…"

"It's a job that requires delicacy, it will become clear to you as time goes by. Do not fret, my child, you will know what to do. To know how to cure them, is to learn of their past, and teach them to let it go."

Let go of the past… That was the second time she's heard those words throughout the night. Lucy said it, said that they've all learnt to let go of the past, so why was Aslan telling her this? "What if nothing is wrong with my friends though?"

"No all scars can be seen…"

Evangeline frowned, her friends were perfectly ok, what did he mean by making them happy? And why did she have to get the job? Lucy's a more jovial person than she is. Besides, she wasn't great at making people happy, she was not a clown.

"That's not all to my being here, is it Aslan?" she asked.

"You will find out in time… I must go, goodnight Evangeline."

Even though that left Evangeline more perplexed than ever, she muttered, "Goodnight Aslan."

It was pitch black when Evangeline's eyes flew open, holding her head as she thought over the dream. _What a queer dream that was… and why is it so dark? _ She asked herself, finding it strange that the torchlight wasn't there to illuminate their sleeping places. _It must've all burned up_, she thought as she stood up slowly, trying to avoid making any sounds. She figured that she should take a walk to tire herself out so that she could go back to sleep, even though she didn't feel like sleeping.

Using the wall the guide her out, Evangeline took a few steps bare footed, not surprised that the stone floor was cold. She'd have to brave it if she didn't want to wake anyone else up with the loud clacking noises that came from her boots.

Evangeline was glad to find that the corridors were lit as she reached them, continuing her walk towards the Stone Table. She was surprised to see that a few animals were still up, but they were nocturnal, even though they spoke like humans they were still creatures after all.

"Daughter of Eve…" a black panther said, greeting her as she passed him. She bowed her head back in return.

She made her way to the front of the Stone Table and sat down on the steps that faced the large carving of Aslan. Pulling her legs up and resting her head on the arms that were wrapped around them, she looked at Aslan, replaying the dream through her head.

What in the world did he mean? Let go of the past, restore peace in your friends' heart - if they were depressed in the first place… It didn't make a lot of sense, and it wasn't as if she was going to walk up to each of them and tell them that she was going to be their new therapist and that they have no choice but to spill all of their secrets out.

"Evangeline?" she heard Peter call out softly.

She turned to her left, to see Peter standing there with bags under his eyes. "Peter," she stated just as softly, acknowledging the older boy.

"Couldn't sleep, I'm guessing?" he asked.

Evangeline shook her head with a small smile, "Not really."

"Me neither."

"Naturally."

Peter walked closer to her, motioning a space next to where she was sitting, "May I?"

"Of course," she said to her best friend, inclining her head. Even though Peter knew that she didn't care if he sat next to her or not, he was still a gentleman about it. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I just have trouble sleeping, with all these memories coming back. I thought that Aurelia might visit me in my sleep, but I wasn't able to even drop off."

"Maybe you just need company," Evangeline smiled, "Did you want to talk about it?"

Peter shook his head, "There's not much more to say about it, it happened five years before I returned back to England, so I guess, like I said before, I got over it. It just hurts to not have the same stars that you've seen for most of your life back home." Peter smiled at Evangeline. "Just some company would be fine."

Evangeline smiled back at Peter, "You should get some rest, knowing that you have a lot to do tomorrow."

"I'm fine," Peter murmured, stifling a yawn. "What about you? You need sleep too."

Evangeline waved a hand, "I'm not a king nor queen, I don't have matters to attend to, I'd sleep during the day if I had to."

"Lazy," Peter muttered with a grin.

"Shut up and go to sleep," Evangeline returned with a smile.

Peter rested his head on her shoulder, "Knowing you, you'd fall asleep in no time."

She gave him a hug, "Sleep well Peter."

"Thank you, guardian angel," Peter said with a smile in his voice.

By the soft sound of Peter's snoring, Evangeline could tell that he had fallen asleep without any problems.

Evangeline was happy that Peter wasn't disturbed or depressed with his story telling as she had been worrying about him. Lucy was right, Peter was fine. With a smile, she kissed his hair, like he would to Lucy whenever she was feeling sad. Someone needed to look out for Peter because he looked out for everyone else. She guessed that she would have to take the job, it came unconditionally.

After fifteen minutes, Evangeline's muscles were protesting for her to move. She tried not to shift Peter's head as she moved a little, knowing that he would wake up, _what an uncomfortable position_.

_Silly girl, should've made him take his sleeping roll in. _The Black Panther that she had seen earlier, moved around the Stone Table, as if guarding Peter as he slept. Evangeline wanted to ask him to do her a favour, but she couldn't remember his name. "Uh…" she managed to say, "Raj," she said, remembering his name, a little overjoyed when the panther looked at her, "could you please do me a favour and fetch Peter's sleeping roll for me? I think he'll wake up with an aching back if he slept all night like this. I think he left it outside."

Raj inclined his head, "Anything for his majesty," he said, turning around with a swish of his tail, walking with feline grace to get Peter's sleeping roll.

When Raj came back, dragging the roll with his teeth, he helped Evangeline move Peter (by supporting Peter's other arm with his head) onto the roll.

As soon as Peter's head hit the ground, his snore only became louder. Evangeline smiled at her friend who was finally sleeping soundly and resumed her position, chin resting on her knees, watching over him as he slept as she replayed scenes throughout the night in her mind. The dream of Aslan left her disturbed, and overhearing Edmund say that he'd die for her was even more so.

Raj lay down next to her, paws folding over the top of each other and tail swishing, silently guarding his king with intelligent golden eyes. He looked at her and his lips curled up into a smile, she met it with a smile of her own and both gave each other silent company, watching over their beloved king.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

It was an hour past sunrise when Peter stirred, surprised to see Evangeline in the same position as before, staring at the carving of Aslan.

"Evangeline? You've woken up earlier than usual…"

Evangeline's reverie was broken when she looked at him and smiled, "Good morning Peter, it's not possible to wake up when you haven't slept."

"You mean, you stayed up the whole night?" he asked, pushing himself up to a sitting position. He cringed slightly when his back cracked as he stretched.

Evangeline nodded, "Mmhmm, couldn't sleep, and I had Raj for company. I've never really appreciated night time until now. Everything's so quiet and peaceful, with everyone asleep. Watching the sun rise is quite beautiful too."

"I was wrong then," Peter muttered with a lopsided grin, running a hand through his golden hair.

"Pardon?"

"I clearly remember saying 'knowing you, you'd fall asleep in no time'," he replied with a chuckle.

"So you are," Evangeline smiled back.

"Is something wrong, Evangeline? You weren't known to pull an all nighter," Peter said with a yawn, standing up and stretching. Sleeping on the floor always made one feel so stiff when waking.

Evangeline shook her head, "No, everything's fine," she said, deciding not to tell Peter that Aslan had visited her in her dream. Everyone would make a big deal out of it, she was sure. She'd tell them eventually, it was just that she needed some time to figure out how she was going to do the job that Aslan appointed her with.

"Peter! Peter!" Susan, Edmund and Lucy called out. Peter turned around. "Have you seen Evangeline? She left without her smelly shoes!" Susan panted.

"Crazy girl's probably been sleep walking," she heard Edmund mutter.

Evangeline stood up from her sitting position, as the Stone Table hid her from their view, "I'm here," she replied calmly, smiling in amusement as she saw Lucy holding her boots.

"Thanks Lucy," she said, taking them from the younger girl and putting them on.

"A good morning would be nice," Peter muttered, trying to brush the hair that was covering his forehead with his fingers.

Susan smiled, "Good morning Peter," she said, brushing her older brother's hair out of his face for him.

Evangeline almost laughed when she imagined that Susan had licked her fingers before doing it.

Lucy gave him a hug, "I hope you slept well, Peter."

Peter smiled, returning the hug, "I did, even though I do feel a little sore."

"Good morning, Evangeline," Edmund greeted.

"Finally! You're the first person to say that to me today!" Evangeline replied enthusiastically, "Good morning to you too Edmund."

"You're up early… and you're not grumpy," he mused.

"She didn't sleep in the first place," Peter told Edmund before Evangeline could even say so.

"Is something wrong?" Edmund asked.

"Why is everyone so surprised that I did not sleep?"

"Because," Lucy injected, "you love your sleep, as do the rest of us."

"And you sleep like a pig," Edmund added.

Evangeline laughed, slapping him on the arm, "You're one to talk."

The group walked together to have breakfast outside, Evangeline listened to Lucy talk about the strange dream she had last night and what she and Edmund did to Susan – which was by taking Evangeline's smelly shoes and putting them under Susan's nose - when they were trying to wake her up. Caspian soon joined them and sat next to Evangeline after they filled their plates with food.

"There's going to be a meeting after we finish breakfast," Caspian told them.

"Great," Evangeline replied, "So what are we going to talk about?"

Caspian shifted slightly, not quite sure himself with which topics that had top priority, "I think the training of our soldiers, schedules, maybe we'll plan out a few more raids, if the Kings and Queens would like to add something, then of course we'll discuss that too."

Evangeline beamed at him, "Excellent," she said brightly.

Caspian looked at her warily, befuddled as why she was so chirpy this morning. He didn't ask her though, not sure if she was touchy with the subject about her feelings.

Evangeline's attention was diverted though, watching in amazement fifteen minutes after she finished her breakfast of buttered toast and eggs, as the Centaurs around her finished eating two whole bowls of oats and wheat, and then moving onto a piled up plate of eggs and toast. She slowly gulped down the glass of orange juice before her, looking worriedly at the creatures and wondering if they ever had indigestion.

* * *

**A.N: Did you like it? I don't know why I decided to include a depressing chapter, even though I was pretty happy when I was writing it – which was maybe the reason why Evangeline was happy (for some strange reason) in the morning. I think because it's 3AM as I'm writing this, and I love this hour.**

**Anywho, I was planning to make Peter's story into a fanfic, like Narnia's version of the Little Mermaid, so what do you think? Should I? Or should I just focus on Believe Me, because studies might pile up and such?**

**Please leave a review!**


End file.
